Wayward Son
by Rainy Meadows
Summary: It started with a scroll, and a theft later that night. The Storm Hawks meet a boy with eyes as gold as the sun, and then things really start to get strange. Rated T for violence and a certain young alchemist's language.
1. Chapter 1

_"Mom?"_

_The dark haired woman looked up at her young son, who was gazing sleepily at her from beneath the folds of sheets._

"_What is it?" she asked. "There's nothing under the bed, I checked already. Nothing in the closet, either."_

"_It's not that," the little boy told her. "It's… when's Dad going to come home again?"_

_She picked up a small blue stuffed toy that had been sitting in the corner and knelt down next to the bed._

"_Well, you see," she said, "it's very complicated. Your father has a lot of work to do and he does it for everybody. If it wasn't for your father, we'd be knee-deep in who knows what by now."_

"_So Dad can't come home because he's too busy being a hero?"_

_She sighed. How was one supposed to explain this to a four year old?_

"_Pretty much," she said, "but I promise he'll come home at the end of the month."_

"_But you said that last month. And he still hasn't come back."_

_The woman ran a hand through his already tousled hair. He yawned, and she passed him the toy, which he drew into a tight cuddle._

"_Don't you worry about this now," she said. "Daddy will come home soon, I promise."_

_The kid was clearly unsatisfied with the answer, but it looked as though he was too tired to continue his questioning. He yawned again, and this time his eyes stayed closed._

_Still stroking his head, the woman began to sing._

_"_Carry on, my wayward son,

There'll be peace when you are done,

Lay your weary head to rest,

Don't you cry no more…_"_

_By the time she was finished, the little boy was sound asleep._

_She leaned forward and kissed his forehead._

"_Sweet dreams, Aerrow," she whispered. "See you in the morning."_

* * *

><p>"Uh… Aerrow?"<p>

Green eyes blearily opened, their owner still half dead to the world due to sleep.

"Aerrow, I don't think the librarians would appreciate it if you drooled all over their books."

"Mmph?"

He sat up far too quickly and the world only stopped spinning after he shook his head a few times. Embarrassing, to say the least.

"You okay?" asked Piper as he wiped his mouth on his arm.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied. "Sorry about that. I don't think I got very much sleep last night. Any luck?"

Piper sat down next to him, slamming down a book that was about the size and weight of the average paving slab.

"Next to nothing," she muttered in an annoyed tone. "Someone must have been pretty eager about crystals; almost the whole section's gone! If I didn't know any better, I'd suspect Master Cyclonis of-"

"Isn't she supposed to be some _you_-level crystal mage?" Aerrow asked with a small smile that he hoped was reassuring. "'Sides, she's probably still busy yelling at Dark Ace over that whole Suit of Untold Vengeance thing."

The girl smiled, but only briefly, and then tried to engross herself in the book (wow, even the writing was so faded it was like a paving slab).

"Are you okay?" He felt like it was his turn to ask.

"I'm fine," she replied, rubbing her face in clear exasperation. "Just a little frustrated, that's all."

"Frustrated? Why?"

She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder, and Aerrow leaned back and peered down the corridor.

He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, save for a rather lost-looking kid. Must have been about twelve or thirteen – it was hard to tell since his face was covered by a hood, so Aerrow had to judge by his height – and yet he was looking around some of the heaviest and oldest tomes the library had to offer. As the Sky Knight watched, he knelt down and dusted the spines with his gloved fingers, sighing every now and then.

It couldn't have been _him_ that Piper was angry about. He was a complete stranger who was hardly doing anything.

"Marco!"

"Polo!"

Ah. That was it.

"Marco!" called Junko from somewhere in the depths of the bookshelves.

"Polo!" shouted Finn from somewhere else.

"Apparently," Piper said, "'silence in the library' just became optional."

"Aw, cut them some slack," Aerrow said dismissively. "It's not like they're causing any…"

He couldn't help but trail off when he saw what that boy was doing now.

"Any what?" asked Piper.

"…harm," he finished weakly. "Could you excuse me for a sec?"

He got up.

It truly was a pitiful sight. Perhaps the most pitiful since Finn got his head stuck in his skimmer's wing last week, and nobody was any closer to figuring out how _that_ happened. The hooded boy was trying desperately to reach the books on the upper shelves, but his diminutive stature meant that even though he was jumping and scrabbling with all his might, he couldn't even come within six inches of the tome he desired. Apparently he hadn't thought to use a chair or something.

"Hey," said Aerrow, and casually leaned against the bookcase. "You need a hand?"

No eyes were visible, but the boy glared at him with more menace than should have been possible for someone his age.

"It's nothing to worry about," the Sky Knight said calmly as he approached. "I bet tons of people have trouble reaching those shelves. Most of the guys who work here are all about a hundred. Which book do you need, this one?"

The nod from the boy was almost unnoticeable, but Aerrow pulled the book down all the same. The boy yanked it from his hands and stomped away without even looking back.

"You're welcome!" he called to the empty air.

"What was that about?" asked Piper, who had watched the entire peculiar spectacle.

Aerrow shrugged.

"No idea," he confessed.

* * *

><p>"Marco!"<p>

"Polo!"

Finn shuffled around the corner and waited for his Wallop friend to approach, then scampered as quietly as he could to the far end of the shelves. It wouldn't be nearly so funny if they hadn't been doing this for the past ten minutes or so.

"Marco!"

"Polo!"

And the hilarious part was that he _still_ hadn't caught on!

"Finn, are you just making me go round in circles?"

Oh crud.

"What? No, man!" he lied. "C'mon, I'm your best buddy, would I do that to you?"

"Yeah, you would!" Junko pointed out. "You totally would! Marco!"

"Polo!" Finn responded, and straightened up once more, grinning in the knowledge that he would never be located.

But when he rounded the corner, he froze.

He couldn't make out any eyes in the shadows cast by the child's hood, but he got that weird tingling feeling that meant he was not only being watched, but glared at with a feeling of unfiltered poison. He didn't really get it: judging by his height, this kid was only around eleven or twelve, he was holding a book the size of a tombstone and his hidden eyes were like lasers boring right into the back of the blonde's head as if he had threatened to burn the place down.

Eventually, after around ten seconds that felt like an eternity, the kid turned around and skulked off around the end of the bookcase, leaving a very bewildered marksman in his wake.

"Did I say something?" he wondered aloud.

It was almost like that kid thought he owned the place or something. He didn't make the rules. What was his problem?

"_Marco!_"

With perhaps the least manly scream ever emitted by human vocal chords, Finn leapt around a metre into the air and almost brought a whole bookcase crashing down on top of him when he tried to grab it.

"Junko!" he cried. "Who said you could sneak up on me like that?!"

"Well _you're_ not playing by the rules," Junko pointed out, "so why should I have to?"

"I, uh…" Words failed Finn as he prized his fingers away from the shelves. "Um… you still shouldn't have snuck up on me!" He stuck a finger in his ear and twisted it around.

"And did you have to yell so loud?" he asked. "I think you busted something in my ear."

"Heh, sorry," Junko said with an embarrassed smile, "but I thought the whole point of the game was to yell?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Are you guys finally done with your glorified shouting match?"

They stopped their chatting and turned to look at Piper, who was glaring at them with not quite the ferocity of that weird boy, but she was pretty close.

"He started it," Junko said as he pointed at Finn.

"I don't really care who started it, so long as it's over!" said Piper. "This is a library – we're not vacationing on Terra Tropica! I know you guys probably think this is boring, and I'm really sorry about that, but-"

"-but we don't need a repeat of the SUV incident," Aerrow finished for her as he approached. "So did you guys find _anything_ worth investigating?"

"We did find a bunch of really weird scrolls back there," said Junko, indicating with his thumb.

"Not sure how much good they'd be, though," said Finn. "They're mostly just weird circles and symbols that look like something out of a boring fantasy novel, along with a bunch of rubbish about stones and stuff."

Piper craned her neck to look at the table at the end of the aisle, where the aforementioned scrolls were stacked.

"It's worth looking at," she said, and walked over to them. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Finn and Junko didn't answer though, on account of Aerrow asking who won.

"Junko did," Finn replied. "Very loudly. In my face."

"You had it coming, Finn," said Junko. "You were just making me go around the same book case over and over, weren't you?"

"I… uh…"

Now there were _two_ pairs of eyes shooting accusation at the nervous marksman.

"Okay, fine," he said, "but it was funny while it lasted, okay?"

"Whoa! Hey guys, come over here and look at this!"

Subject officially changed, they hurried over to where Piper had unrolled a scroll on the table, revealing oddly designed circles, numerous strange-looking symbols and an image of a small red stone.

"What is it?" asked Finn. "I found something good, didn't I?"

"Surprisingly, yes," said Piper. "Listen to this."

She read along the scroll with her finger.

"'If thou shalt ever need to combine the fifteen strongest and most powerful of crystals yet discovered'," she read, "'then thy efforts shalt be rewarded with the infinite substance, most wondrous of all creations of mankind, the Philosopher's Stone'."

Another of the images showed a bearded man in a white robe, reaching up towards the glowing red crystal with an expression of awe.

"'Without payment, thou shalt be granted the power of the gods'," Piper continued, "'to smite thine enemies to dust and rend the world asunder with nary a word. Conversely, the stone can heal the sick and injured should thou so desire, and grant thou riches beyond thy wildest dreams'. _Wow_."

"Yeah," said Aerrow, "that sums it up."

"Man, what I wouldn't give to get my hands on one of those," Finn said wistfully. "Just think of the possibilities…"

"…which for you would mean an indestructible skimmer ten times more powerful than the Condor," Aerrow recited as though he had planned this beforehand, "more girls than you could ever hope to fit on it and a lifetime's worth of endless vacations, am I right?"

Now it was Finn's turn to shoot a poison-filled glare at Aerrow, and he got up and stomped away in a huff while Aerrow and Junko unrolled more of the scrolls.

"They just keep going on and on about these really weird things," said Junko. "I don't even know how to say some of these words!"

"Yeah, and what's a… hom… un… culus?" Aerrow wondered aloud. "Is that how you're supposed to say it? What is that? Sounds like some kind of ooze."

"I could be mistaken," said Piper, "but I _think_ the word means 'little person'."

She looked for a while at a diagram of concentric circles and pentagons as if expecting it to tell her the answer, and when it didn't, she sighed.

"It's worth looking into," she said, "but there's no point looking over these scrolls if we can barely even read them. I can't believe I'm saying this, but it looks like Finn was right."

"What was that?"

A tuft of blonde hair poked around the corner, followed by the rest of Finn's head.

"Didn't quite catch that," he said, lips curling up at the corners. "Could you repeat it loud enough for me to hear?"

"Fine, Finn," said Piper. "You were right-"

"CHICA-CHA!" Finn cried joyfully.

"-these scrolls really _are_ useless."

"Aww." Finn pouted in disappointment.

"We could keep looking, but-"

"NO! No!" All three males leapt up in protest.

"-but I doubt any of us would stay sane for long enough to get some real research done," said Piper, sniggering a little, "so we may as well go home."

Aerrow, Finn and Junko heaved a sigh of relief and bliss.

"Finally," said Finn as they headed for the door. "Junko, buddy, I want a rematch when we get back to the Condor, 'kay?"

"What for?" asked Junko. "You lost."

"Only 'coz you cheated!"

"You were cheating first!"

"Do you want to put these away or shall I?" Piper asked Aerrow.

"No, I can do it," the redhead replied. "It shouldn't be hard to figure out where they go."

"Are you sure? It's no trouble, I promise."

"No, you go on ahead, I'll catch up."

As she walked away, Aerrow dragged a stool out of a corner and started slotting the scrolls back into the shelf they had sat on with the rest of their companions. The strange boy from earlier was bent over the book he'd needed help with, completely and totally engrossed. He didn't seem to notice the Sky Knight opening one of the scrolls for the last time and looking at the image of the shining red stone.

"Weird," he commented, and stepped down and made for the door.

"You wanna be careful with power like that. Fly too close to the sun and you'll get burned."

He stopped.

When he looked around, all he could see was the back of the weird child, which displayed an equally weird symbol emblazoned in black on the red fabric: a cross with a snake coiling around it, a crown above it and a small pair of wings on either side of the crown. Was that some squadron's insignia? If so, he didn't recognise it.

"What was that?" he asked.

The boy looked up, hood still hiding a majority of his face.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said calmly in a voice that sounded far too old for someone that height, "I talk to myself sometimes."

He went back to poring over his book.

Aerrow could have stood there for hours just staring in confusion. If this boy was talking to himself, why had it sounded so much like some vague warning? He'd been eavesdropping, hadn't he? And why did he sound so friendly then when earlier he had looked so angry and mean?

He didn't seem to be paying any attention, so Aerrow gladly took the opportunity to leave, taking a deep breath of fresh non-musty air the moment he was outside.

"What was with that guy?" he wondered aloud.

He shrugged. It was probably best not to pay him too much attention. It wasn't likely that they'd meet again.

There was only one thing left to do before he went back to the ship.

"Radarr!" he shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth. "It's time to go!"

His co-pilot had scampered away not long before they entered that snore-fest of a building. Where could he have gone to?

"Radarr, where'd you go?" he called. "Better hurry it up, you don't wanna get left behind again, do you?"

It didn't take long after that for a small ball of blue fur to ram into Aerrow's chest like a mini living wrecking ball.

"There you are!" said Aerrow. "Where've you been? I was worried I might-"

Radarr ignored him, clambered over his shoulder and hung off his back like a bat.

"Radarr?" Aerrow said, struggling to look at him. "What're you…"

He trailed off again.

A small flock of chickens had trotted into view, clucking and ruffling their feathers, and the one at the head of the group looked up at Aerrow with a strangely inquisitive expression. It even tilted its head to one side.

"Umm…" Aerrow said, "…he went that way!"

He pointed in a random direction and the happy hens waddled out of sight.

Radarr watched them leaving, his eyes the only part of his body visible over Aerrow's shoulder. It was only once they were gone that he allowed himself to breathe.

"What is it with you and hens?" asked Aerrow. "What do they see in you?"

Great. Yet _another_ accusing glare to add to the list.

"Not that there isn't anything to you!" he insisted. "You're the best co-pilot in all the Atmos, remember?"

With a small nod Radarr smiled in self-satisfaction, while Aerrow made a beeline for the parked Condor.

"Sorry, but I just don't get it," he continued. "You're an even bigger chick magnet than Finn!"

He halted again, having just realized what he'd said.

"That was a pun, wasn't it?"

Radarr nodded.

"And it was awful, wasn't it?"

Another nod.

"Oh man, I'm such an idiot!" said Aerrow, and slapped a hand on his forehead in disbelief. "There are lumps of coal that make better jokes than that! Radarr, buddy, can you ever forgive me?"

Radarr cuddled his head in a way that said, 'I already did.'

"Yeah, I get it," Aerrow said, and returned the hug as much as he could with only one hand. "Let's just go home, okay?"

* * *

><p>Finally alone.<p>

The boy slammed the book shut with an echo that resounded throughout the building, then got up from his chair and looked up at the shelf.

Up there was the information he needed. Up there were the things he had been looking for.

He climbed onto the stool and found himself cursing his body. Even with the added help, he was still too short to reach those damn scrolls. He didn't want to risk jumping and breaking his legs in the inevitable fall.

It was a hopeless endeavor.

Unless…

He got down and looked around. He seemed to be the only one in the room.

Good. No witnesses.

If there were any, they would have heard a clapping noise and seen a flash of light, followed by a rather nervous looking young boy walking hurriedly to a more secluded corner with a scroll under one arm.

And if they were to check, they would see that the stool had grown half a foot taller.

* * *

><p><strong>I know I said that I was going to wait until Quantum of Solace was up before I made a start on this, but the simple fact is that the very prospect of an FMAStorm Hawks crossover was just too tempting to not dive into. And having recently finished rewatching all 52 episodes, the time just feels right. The only issue is that I haven't written Fullmetal Alchemist or Storm Hawks before, so I'm a little nervous about making everybody out of character. As I always am when writing fanfiction – I'm constantly going to wikis and TV Tropes to make sure I'm giving them the representation they deserve.**

**However, unlike my SoulHeta stories which are always (at least almost) complete by the time I start uploading them, this one is going to be the more mundane update-as-I-go-along type thing, since I'm starting my last year of high school soon and I don't know when I'll get time to write. I'm also not going to bother with special names for the chapters.**

**The next chapter is most likely going to be longer, I promise.**

**Leave a review and let me know what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

"STOP RIGHT THERE!"

Aerrow froze. He barely even had time to open his mouth before white powder was thrown at him and he sneezed so hard that Radarr fell off his shoulder, and walked away in a huff.

"Stork," the redhead choked, "what-"

"Don't you dare breathe on me!" Stork commanded. "If you even _think_ about moving before I'm finished-"

"Alright, alright!" Aerrow tried to hold up his hands defensively, but it wasn't any good as he soon felt something hitting them which felt like liquid (he kept his eyes closed just in case).

There was the sound of spraying as something (he honestly did _not_ want to know what) was sprinkled over him before finally the crazy pilot was satisfied.

"Yeah, you're clean," he declared as Aerrow brushed some powder off his shoulder.

"Dude, I better not be allergic to any of this stuff," Finn complained. "Is there some still in my hair?"

"There must be," said Piper, "it's turning green."

"What?! Aerrow, is it? Really?"

When Aerrow opened his eyes, a very desperate and still very blonde Finn was hopping from one foot to the other in anxiety. There was still white powder in his hair which didn't seem to be doing anything to the colour, but he'd had a weird encounter earlier and was feeling a bit mean.

"Actually, yeah," he lied. "That's probably the brightest green I've ever seen in my life!"

"You look like a tree!" Junko added.

"In all honesty, I should probably have considered the side effects," said Stork, "but Finn, you make a very nice blueberry bush."

"WHAT?!"

Finn pushed past Aerrow in his desperate dash to the bathroom. Once he was gone, both Aerrow and Radarr held up three fingers…

…two…

…one…

…and pointed at the door.

"HEY!" Finn screamed, right on cue. "YOU GUYS, THAT WAS CRUEL!"

The entire bridge erupted into laughter as a very grumpy and still dusty sharpshooter made his grand re-entry.

"C'mon, that wasn't funny!" he said.

"Sorry, but it kinda was," said Aerrow. "But Stork, was that really necessary?"

"Are you out of your mind?" asked Stork, getting uncomfortably close. "Of course it was! Do you have any idea of the dangers that lurk in libraries? How many people with diseases could have touched those books? Not to mention all the dust mites and mould spores and worst of all… the _bookworms._"

"Bookworms?" said Junko. "I thought I was a bookworm! What harm could a bookworm do?"

"Not _that_ kind of bookworm," Stork explained as he absent-mindedly dumped a fistful of powder on Radarr. "The kind of bookworm that can travel faster than a speeding Condor. The kind that can eat through an entire shelf in less than a second! Could you imagine what one of those things could do to your hand?!"

Radarr shook himself free of the powder before sneezing so hard that he catapulted himself in the wall and slid to the floor in a daze.

"That's awesome," Finn said dismissively as he sat down, "but did anyone else see this one real weird kid?"

"Was he about this tall," said Piper, indicating with her hand somewhere around shoulder height, "red coat, glared at everything like it was about to kill him?"

"Yeah, him!"

"What was that symbol on his back?" asked Junko, sitting down next to Finn. "I don't think I've ever seen it before."

"He said something really weird to me when I was putting those scrolls back," said Aerrow. "Something weird about power, and flying too close to the sun and getting burned."

"I have some lotion for that," Stork chimed in, but unfortunately this was largely ignored.

"It's pretty obvious that he was eavesdropping when I read out that scroll," said Piper, "but what would be the point? There wasn't anything very useful in there as far as I could tell – I mean sure, the Philosopher's Stone sounds like it could be disastrous in the wrong hands, but the writing was so vague and cryptic that I didn't know what to make of it."

"And what _is_ a homunculus?" asked Aerrow.

"It sounds like some kind of disease," Finn suggested. "Like 'Oh no, stay away from Radarr, he's got homunculus, it's contagious'."

Radarr gave him a look that said 'Go jump off a cliff'.

"Anyway," said Aerrow, trying to steer the conversation back to its original direction, "that kid… I don't think 'weird' quite covers it."

"Well, there's also creepy, ominous, queer and peculiar-" Piper suggested.

"-freaky, eerie, spooky, uncanny, unnatural, odd-" Junko added.

"Not to mention bizarre and strange!" Stork added happily.

"What're you guys, walking thesauruses?" asked Finn.

"Whatever," said Aerrow. "So long as we don't have to see him again, I'm cool with it."

He looked out the window, at the sun that was gently lowering itself beneath the clouds.

"Totally cool with it," he repeated.

* * *

><p>Night came, and with it, the shadows.<p>

And in those shadows, something moved.

A small, somewhat stubby figure moved from building to building, hiding in the shelter of darkness, and whenever somebody passed by he flattened himself against the wall and waited until they were gone before moving on to the next shadow.

He ran across an alleyway.

He stepped on his coat.

He tripped.

He fell flat on his face.

He spluttered a series of swear words that would make old ladies everywhere faint from shock, climbed to his feet and continued onwards.

Thank goodness this place was more densely populated than some others he'd heard of. More buildings meant more shadows, so it was way easier to sneak around and get things done. If he was caught now, he was done for. There was no way he would ever…

No. Don't think about that right now. _Focus_.

He'd reached it.

The tower was huge and if he didn't know any better, he'd have just thought it was a lighthouse. But the light was intensely bright and throbbed with energy. There was no way an ordinary lighthouse would ever look so cool.

Two guards out the front.

Dammit.

Right. Only two. This shouldn't be too hard.

He snuck around in the trees until he was by the side of the building, picked up a decent sized rock and threw it at the back of the nearest guard's head. He fell to the ground with a satisfying grunt and the second came running. He swung his legs round to kick him down and, once he too was on the floor, kicked him in the head.

Now both were out cold.

"Sorry," he muttered, and continued on.

The door was locked. Of course. But he could take care of that. Anyone watching would hear a clap and see a flash of light, and then see that the doors swung open to allow the shadow entrance.

He ran up the stairs, not caring how much noise he made anymore, until he reached the room at the top. He threw the door open and could have sworn that what he needed was just waiting, begging for him to take it.

It wouldn't be anything major. They could do without just one, couldn't they?

He opened the glass case and took out one of the glowing blue shards.

Almost instantly a blaring klaxon rang through the building. He even ducked when it started, and it took him a few moments too realise what it meant.

"Shit," he muttered. "This place is alarmed?"

With another clap and flash of light, he pulled a tea-tray-sized panel of metal out of the floor and ran to the door. Once there, rather than using the stairs, he leapt onto the rail and used the panel to surf down, knowing that not only would his old buddy inertia keep him from falling, but that this stunt would really confuse and/or impress anyone who tried to stop him.

He reached the end, jumped off, barrel-rolled out the door, jumped to his feet and started running again.

If he had a hideout to escape to, he would probably weave around the city a few times to lead off his pursuers before heading back there to calm down and try to sleep, but he didn't have a hideout. Just an alley would do. It had before.

The guards seemed to have stopped.

This couldn't be a good sign.

"Nice night tonight, isn't it?"

He froze.

Slowly, he looked round.

* * *

><p>"Although I noticed that quite a few clouds seem to be gathering around the beacon tower," Aerrow continued, "which usually means somebody's been messing with the Aurora Stone."<p>

He drew his knives.

"And sorry if I sound presumptuous or something, but you seem to be the only person out tonight who's dressed all in black and looks like he's got something to hide."

And switched them on.

"So why don't you hand over what I know you took?"

The thief turned around and started running.

Great. One of _those_ guys.

Aerrow sheathed his knives and started to run. This was probably going to take a while. This guy was small, but definitely fast.

Could it be the kid from earlier?

No. His coat was red with that weird symbol on the back, and this one was black.

Unless he had more than one coat, which was likely. And he did seem to be around the same height.

He put these thoughts to the side for a moment, as he'd run the thief into an alley that was blocked off by a massive brick wall, and nothing much else except a dumpster and a couple of old tyres. Unless this guy could fly, there was no way he was going anywhere.

"You know," Aerrow said, drawing his knives again, "you're lucky some other Sky Knight wasn't in the area. Some of us can be pretty fearsome. Especially when we're woken up in the middle of the night by some thief trying to steal the remains of Atmos' most treasured crystal."

He brandished his knives and switched them on again.

"So why don't you just come quietly and make this easier on yourself?"

The thief paused, and for a moment it looked as though he might actually surrender.

Then he charged. Aerrow prepared to counter his attack.

But instead the stranger jumped onto the tyres and propelled himself onto the dumpster, then kicked from side to side until he was over the top of the wall that had been blocking his passage.

For a few moments, the Sky Knight could only stare in stunned disbelief.

"Whoa," he muttered. This guy had moves!

No matter. He had to find him again.

As he ran, he started thinking again: _was_ it the same kid from earlier? He certainly seemed to have the same suspicious aura about him, and was around the same height and build, but surely somebody who could barely reach a bookshelf wouldn't be able to pull off a stunt the likes of which he'd just seen. Alright, he'd used the tyres to jump off, but they weren't THAT elastic! Then again, the coat was the same style, just a different colour, and nobody else would wear such strange clothes, would they?

His mind raced with possibilities as his feet raced along the ground. One thing was for sure: he'd sleep like a rock once he got back home.

The guy was really moving too fast for him to get a good look anyway. And he didn't remember much about the guy from the library aside from the glaring and the strange coat. So maybe it wasn't the kid from earlier?

He slowed to a halt in another alley, which looked like the place the thief would have landed.

And he couldn't help but feel like he was being watched.

"Are you there?" he called. "You know, it'd be better if you just gave yourself up! You might reduce your jail sentence that way!"

No reply.

"Hello?"

Suddenly there was a rush in the corner of his eye, the sound and sensation of something slicing across his back – not hurting him, but probably damaging something – and he spun to find the thief behind him holding a wicked looking knife that shone almost blindingly in the moonlight. No energy, no crystal to power it, just plain old-fashioned sharpness.

"So it's gonna be like _this_," Aerrow concluded.

He swung and thrust his knives at the thief, but no matter what he did, it was always countered. The thief's blade may as well be part of his arm, the way he moved with it, and whenever he punched forward with it, it was dangerously close to Aerrow's face. He knew he had to finish this quickly before he completely wore himself out.

Aerrow slammed the knife down with one of his own weapons and kicked out, hitting the thief in the stomach with his foot, and the guy barely had time to stumble before another kick sent him flying into a wall.

It was only then, with the black-clad stranger struggling for breath against the brickwork, that the Sky Knight felt something warm and wet on his left cheek. When he touched it and took his fingers away, he saw blood. He must have been cut and hadn't felt it due to adrenaline. It was going to hurt later, that was for sure.

"Look," he said calmly to the perpetrator. "Whatever problems you might have, whatever drove you to try to steal the Aurora Stone; I can promise you it's not worth it. If you try to sell it somewhere else, people will recognise it and you'll just get arrested on the spot. And if you're working for Cyclonia, then I'll have no choice but to deal with you right here."

The thief had stopped panting. He seemed to be listening.

"Really," said Aerrow, "I don't wanna have to hurt you. It would be best if you just gave up."

A fresh silence hung in the air.

Then the thief pounded his elbow into Aerrow's stomach and sent him back, winded, and he barely had time to blink before _something_ huge and solid punched into his body and sent him flying backwards. His grip on his weapons became non-existent.

He only just had time to register that the ground was a lot further away than it should have been before his scrabbling hands found purchase on the edge of the cliff.

They'd fought each other right to the edge – literally – and hadn't even noticed.

And that had been a clean slice right across his back. There was no way his glider was in working condition.

If he couldn't pull himself up he was done for.

He pressed down hard, but his body only rose a couple of inches before the ground crumbled under his fingers and he was forced to take his hand away, and slap it back before he lost his grip.

"Is someone there?" he called. "Anyone? Can you help me?"

He now found himself hoping the thief was still there. Or _anyone_ who could offer a helping hand.

"I-I'm down here!" he yelled. "Somebody help me!"

He tried to reach up, to get more of his arm and possibly his elbow over the earth, but it slid out from underneath him and sent him flailing, hanging by the tips of only one hand's worth of fingers.

"Anybody! Please!" he shouted. "HELP ME!"

No. Was this it? Was he going to die here?

He couldn't! It wasn't possible! He couldn't die! Not here! Not _now!_

"SOMEONE! HELP!" he screamed in desperation.

Some fearless leader, huh?

His grip was slipping, the ground failing to hold his weight any longer. He closed his eyes and prepared for the inevitable rush before the end arrived-

-but then, just as he was preparing to fall to his doom, something shifted underneath him.

He was _lying down_.

Aerrow opened his eyes.

The ground had somehow extended outward, creating a diving board-like protrusion from the cliff face, and he scrambled forwards and onto more solid ground, which he'd never been more thankful for in his whole life.

When he finally stopped panting, he looked up.

Nobody was there.

"Hello?" he called, more quietly this time.

No reply. He didn't know if he'd expected one.

He looked back, at the ground where just seconds ago he'd been about to plummet to his demise. How it had happened, he didn't know and quite frankly didn't care right then. He was just glad to be alive.

"Whoever did that," he said, words falling fruitlessly into the air, "whoever saved me… thanks."

There was no way he'd be able to catch the thief now. He was probably long gone.

With a simultaneously heavy and grateful heart, he picked up his knives and walked away.

* * *

><p>"Ah-!"<p>

"Sorry!"

"No, it's fine," said Aerrow as he settled down again. "Just get it over with, okay?"

Piper nodded, and thankfully her next dab at the cut on Aerrow's cheek was met with only a slight flinch and hiss of pain.

"You're lucky it wasn't worse," she commented. "A bit lower and he could've slashed your neck."

"I'm not so sure he really wanted to hurt me," said Aerrow. "He was mostly –_ ow!_ – mostly aiming for my face when he wasn't just trying to defend himself. And before that, he was just running."

"Maybe he knew who he was dealing with," Piper suggested with a smile.

"Heh, maybe," said Aerrow. "But when I- _ah!_ But that wouldn't explain why he tried to fight me off, does it? And… this might sound crazy, but what if he was the one who saved me?"

"How would that be possible though?"

"I don't know, but there wasn't anybody else around at the time so I…"

He trailed off and yawned massively.

"…I can't believe I couldn't catch him," he said with disappointment.

"Aerrow, you shouldn't dwell too much on that," said Piper as she put away the disinfectant. "I'm just glad you're alright – you should be too. We'll catch that guy eventually, you'll see. How many places are there for someone who stole a piece of the most powerful crystal ever discovered to hide?"

Aerrow smiled.

"Yeah," he said as he got up, "you're probably right."

He gently brushed the cut on his cheek. It wasn't bleeding anymore, but it would still probably take a while to heal.

"Are you gonna be okay?"

"I'm alive, so yeah. See you in the morning."

He walked back to his room, collapsed onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling.

Somebody had saved his life tonight.

He wondered if he would ever find out who.

* * *

><p>Yes, there were definitely more clouds in the sky over Atmosia today. Thankfully nobody else seemed to have noticed, since it couldn't <em>always<em> be clear blue skies all over the place, but it still reminded the teenage Sky Knight of his failure the previous night.

He'd decided not to join his friends as they went up the beacon tower to investigate what had happened. It would have been like screaming in his face that he had failed. Screwed up. Blown it. Been outwitted by somebody who wasn't even as tall as he was.

But if the thief was after the Aurora Stone, he wondered as he wandered aimlessly through the streets, why would he only take one shard? He remembered Piper saying that only one would be enough to cause untold damage when used the wrong way, but if so, wouldn't it make sense to take all of them so that any attacks couldn't be countered by a response of equal power? The more he thought about this theft, the more he realised that it didn't make a whole lot of sense.

He probably wasn't a Cyclonian agent then. If he was he would probably have taken all of the shards, just to be on the safe side. And hopefully Cyclonis had learned her lesson after the previous time she had stolen the stone, and the humiliating loss Aerrow had dealt to her.

But it wouldn't make sense for an everyday thief to go after the most powerful object in Atmos! Everyone knew what the Aurora Stone was, so there wasn't anything to be gained from stealing part of it! And unless he was some kind of super ultra crystal mage, he wouldn't know how to use it for his own means and so… he would…

"Hey, watch it!"

Aerrow was brought back to his senses when someone crashed into his side and almost knocked him over.

"Sorry!" he shouted at the retreating back.

Wait.

It was _that_ kid. He'd recognise that coat and its symbol anywhere.

He turned around and tried to keep moving, but found himself constantly looking over his shoulder to check if he was being followed. He couldn't see the tell-tale red coat anywhere, but still couldn't escape the feeling that someone was watching him.

And there was something rubbing against his hip.

When he checked, he saw that someone had tucked a folded piece of paper into his waistband, so he pulled it out and unfolded it.

Nothing.

He turned it over.

_Behind the beacon tower._

_Noon._

_Need to talk._

_Don't be followed._

Huh?!

After the events of last night, he was ready to tear up the paper and throw the scraps into the wind to be blown down to the Wastelands and burned into oblivion.

But he couldn't bring himself to.

What if this kid needed his help? But if he did, why not ask for it yesterday? Because the rest of his squad was with him? But if so, why not ask when they were alone and he was putting those scrolls away? It didn't make any sense!

And, whispered a little voice in the back of his head, the best way to find out would be to go there and ask him.

He hated dilemmas like this.

He looked up at the sun. It was getting close to noon, but he probably had plenty of time to get there. That kid most likely didn't know the rest of his squad were already there, so they'd have the advantage if he got troublesome. Plus he was just one kid who needed someone taller to lift down things of high shelves for him – how much harm could he do?

Yeah, Aerrow decided. He would be alright.

He started heading towards the tower, taking care not to get in anybody else's way and saying hello to those who recognised him. Nobody actually tried to stop him, for which he was both thankful and disappointed: secretly he would have liked an excuse to not have to talk to that strange kid. For all he knew this could be an assassination attempt in the making.

Nah. If that kid was an assassin, he would have attacked in the library.

Right?

He looked over his shoulder to make sure nobody was following him and sure enough, he was still on his own.

And he was still on his own when he reached his destination, finding that the boy hadn't arrived yet.

He looked at the note again. The paper was yellowing and frayed at one of the edges, as if it had been torn out of the back of one of the books in the library, which wasn't at all impossible. The writing was quite rough but still rather neat, like someone with good handwriting had been in a hurry. Also possible.

But again, if this guy wanted to talk so desperately, _why wait until now rather than speaking up in the library?!_

Wow, this kid was stupid.

Either that or he didn't trust Aerrow, which almost made sense.

"So you actually came."

He spun around, reaching for his knives, to find the kid leaning casually against the wall, still with his hood up.

"Didn't think you were gonna show up," he said bitterly.

"Of course I did," said Aerrow, lowering his hands. "Call me a dumbass if you want, but I make a point of investigating things when a strange kid tucks a note into my pants."

"Sorry about that," the boy replied, and he had the nerve to almost sound friendly. "Didn't see any other way to get the message to you without drawing attention. You weren't followed, were you?"

Aerrow shook his head.

"Good," said the boy, and he took a few steps closer. "Sorry, but I don't really trust very many people around here."

"Well, forgive me for sounding paranoid," said Aerrow, "but I find it kinda hard to trust people who never take their hoods down and ask to meet other people behind large buildings."

The boy's fist clenched. He was clearly trying not to lash out.

"You're a Sky Knight, right?" he asked. "I've heard you guys are almost like heroes. You're good at helping people, right?"

"As far as I know," Aerrow said.

"I need some help," said the boy. "I need to get home as quickly as possible, I've already been away for way longer than I wanted to be and I'm stuck here. There's people waiting for me and I need to get back to them."

He… _sounded_ genuine.

But Aerrow was still hesitant.

"Didn't you get what I was trying to say just now?" he said. "You just told me to meet here. You haven't told me your name, where you're from; you haven't even taken your hood off! How am I supposed to help you if I don't even know if I can trust you or not? For all I know, you could be a Cyclonian spy!"

The boy froze.

"I'm a Sky Knight," said Aerrow, "not an idiot."

The strange boy gritted his teeth and raised his hands to his hood.

"Fine," he snapped, and yanked it down.

Aerrow almost stepped back in shock.

This was the most bizarre looking person he'd ever seen in his whole life. His face was soft, almost feminine, but screamed of teenage defiance as his fearsome golden – not yellow or orange or even amber, but full on _golden_ – eyes glared at the Sky Knight. He probably would have looked like some street kid, the scrappy kind who hangs out with tough guys just so they don't pick on him, if it weren't for the (admittedly very nice) coat and his hair: it was just as gold as his eyes and fell on either side of his face, but was also pulled back behind his shoulders and stuck up at the front like an antenna. The rest of his clothes that were visible under his coat were all black, save for a ridiculously thick brown leather belt and red on the soles of his heavy-looking boots.

He generally looked like someone who was trying far too hard to seem tough.

On the other hand, despite his height, he looked a lot older than Aerrow had first assumed. Fourteen, perhaps? Fifteen?

"The hell are you staring at?" he demanded.

"What? Oh, sorry!" Aerrow suddenly realised how creepy he must have looked. "Sorry, I've just never seen anyone like you before."

"What can I say?" the boy said. "I'm one of a kind. You wanted to know my name? It's Edward. Edward Elric. My friends call me Ed."

Aerrow couldn't help it. He tried and failed to hide his sniggering.

"What're you laughing at?" asked the boy. "What's so funny? Never heard that name before?"

"No!" Aerrow admitted. "Man, your parents are cruel."

"Hey, don't you badmouth my parents!" the boy almost shouted. "Anyway, what's your name? I like to know people's names so I know who I'm itching to punch in the face."

"Huh? Oh, my name's Aerrow. Just Aerrow."

Now it was the boy's – Edward's – turn to laugh. Only he didn't even try to hide it. The way he was laughing, it was amazing the whole terra didn't hear him.

"What's so funny about that?" asked the bemused Sky Knight.

"What's so _funny?!_" cried Edward. "That's the stupidest name I've ever heard in my life! What's your twin brother's name, Groundo?!"

"I don't have a twin brother," Aerrow said flatly as the boy continued laughing.

Thankfully it wasn't long before he stopped, and snapped back to being serious at a rather alarming speed.

"So are you gonna help me or what?" he asked.

"Well," said Aerrow, "you see, Ed-"

"Edward."

"Excuse me?"

"I told you my _friends_ call me Ed. I don't trust you enough to call you a friend, so until then call me Edward."

Aerrow frowned. This kid was talking down to him, something he'd never appreciated. Couldn't there have been a way to correct him that didn't make this guy sound like an arrogant jerk?

"_Edward_," he said, "I'd like to help, but my squad and I are kinda busy right now. Somebody robbed this place last night and we're still trying to figure out exactly what went down."

"Couldn't have been anything too major," said Edward. "Who'd want to rob a lighthouse?"

'Wow,' thought Aerrow. 'Which rock has this guy been living under for the past few months?'

"But I think I might've seen what happened."

"What?"

"Yeah, I was hanging around here last night and I saw some guy come running out, looked like he was in a hurry."

"What else did you see?"

"Enough to know that he probably hasn't left this terra yet. Criminals tend to hang around the scene of the crime they've committed. Gives them satisfaction, sort of thing."

'Funny,' Aerrow thought. 'That's exactly what _you're_ doing, you weirdo.'

"How about this?" said Edward. "You agree to help me get back home and I'll tell you everything I know. Equivalent exchange."

Equiva… what? He meant fair trade, right? Wouldn't that have been much easier to say?

"I don't buy it," said Aerrow.

"Huh? Why not?" Edward demanded, half from anger and half from shock.

"I don't trust you," Aerrow replied.

"Listen, you grassy-eyed bastard," the short blonde snarled, pointing a finger up at Aerrow's face and causing the Sky Knight to lean back in alarm. "I've already spent way longer in this stupid dump than I wanted and I've got plenty of people waiting for me back home who depend on me! So either you help me or-"

"Or what?" Aerrow smiled smugly. "What's a shorty like you gonna do to someone like me?"

Edward froze.

"Uh… is something wrong?" asked Aerrow.

"_What?_"

Oh no. That tone sounded dangerous.

"_What did you just call me?_" Edward snarled.

"I just figured that since you insulted me, you wouldn't mind if I insulted you," said Aerrow, but stepped back all the same as his confidence was fading.

Then Edward punched him.

Hard.

And he fell quite painfully to the ground with a taste of blood in his mouth. He quickly checked: no teeth lost, that was good. He rubbed his painful cheek, a sharp sting notifying him that his cut had opened up again.

"What was tha-"

"SO YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD BE OKAY TO CALL ME A TINY LITTLE PIPSQUEAK SO SMALL HE COULD EASILY JUMP THROUGH THE EYE OF A NEEDLE LIKE A STUNT DOG?!" the blonde roared deafeningly.

"That isn't what I said-!"

"Get up! Get up, you son of a bitch! Get up so I can punch you to the ground aga- _oof!_"

The 'oof' was because Aerrow had taken the opportunity to kick Edward's legs out and bring him down to the same level, and he seemed to hit the floor with quite a bit more force than someone his size should have.

"Wow," said the Sky Knight as he got up, "do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"THAT IS _**IT!**_"

Edward shot up faster than should have been possible for somebody of his stature, seized the front of Aerrow's shirt and prepared to punch him again, this time with a growl of fury.

But before he could land the blow, the two were blasted apart.

Aerrow looked up while Edward stared at the still-quivering crossbow bolt now partially embedded in the ground.

"Thanks, Finn!" the Sky Knight shouted.

"No problem, dude! This wingman's always got your back!" was the distant reply.

Edward scrambled to his feet while Aerrow calmly straightened up again.

"I thought I told you to make sure you weren't followed!" cried the blonde.

"And I wasn't," the redhead helpfully informed him. "I just decided not to tell you about my squad mates that were already here."

He wiped the blood off his cheek with his thumb.

"I'm a Sky Knight," he repeated, "not an idiot."

"DAMMIT!"

With that final curse Edward turned on his heels and started to run.

Aerrow pressed a finger to his ear.

"Listen up, guys," he said. "You know that kid from the library yesterday? I just met up with him and he says he knows stuff about the robbery last night, but we got into a bit of a fight and Finn's scared him off."

"Nice going, genius," said the voice of Piper.

"He was about to punch him out!" cried Finn. "If I hadn't heard that guy shouting about needles or whatever-"

"Long story short, we need to catch him before he disappears," said Aerrow. "There's something about him that just seems a little too familiar for my liking."

"You think he might've been the thief?" Piper suggested.

"I'm not sure," said Aerrow, "but I have my suspicions. Junko, can you hear me?"

From Junko's end of the line:

"-coming from _your_ room so I expect _YOU_ to deal with it!"

"But it's probably just the pipes or the walls; this ship is so old-"

"She's not old, she's a classic!"

"I'm right here!" said Junko's voice as Stork continued ranting in the background. "Stork thinks he can hear noises coming from my room so-"

"I'm not! Thinking! _Anything!_"

"What is it you need?"

"You know that kid from the library yesterday?" said Aerrow. "He told me he knows stuff about the robbery yesterday and he's just made a break for it, so do you think you could try to head him off? He's headed for the back allies – you can't miss him, he's probably the only person in existence who looks like his hair's made of money."

"I'll be right there!" said Junko, and the sound went dead.

Before he made off, Aerrow noticed something shining on the ground which hadn't been there before. He picked it up and examined it.

It was… it was a pocket watch. The kind that rich guys kept in their chest pockets, except this one had evidently been dropped by Edward. It was silver with a strange symbol embossed on the cover: some mix of lion and snake between a diamond and a hexagon, and a vine or chain of some sort bordering the bottom half.

Weird. Why wouldn't it open?

Never mind. That kid would be even angrier if it was lost.

He tucked the watch into his armour for safekeeping and began to run.

* * *

><p><strong>I promised the next one would be longer and look, it is!<strong>

**I should also mention that I already have the entire plot of this story worked out and am still feeling a little uncomfortable writing for a Western cartoon rather than a Japanese one, like I'm used to. Please don't hesitate to let me know if somebody's out of character because it really isn't intentional (unlike some - I've now heard My Immortal's dramatic readings twice and I'm not sure if I'm a hundred percent sane anymore).**

**How is it that the Storm Hawks communicate when they're away from their rides? If they have earphones or something we never get to _see_ them, so I'm just going by the show.**

**Writing Ed is so much fun.**

**Please review and share your thoughts, I'd love to hear them!**


	3. Chapter 3

Edward ran. He didn't care where he was going so long as it was away from that spiky-haired stickman, whatever his deal was.

'Don't be followed'. Was that really such a hard instruction to follow? And then he'd made up some stupid crap about them already being there as if that was any _different_ from them being followed, but if anything, it was so much worse! What was he expecting, trouble?

Alright, trouble was basically what had happened, but that was beside the point!

He mentally slapped himself. Nobody here was trustworthy; he should have realised this by now and was an idiot for denying it even for a second. He had to find his _own_ way out, his _own_ way back home or else he would be stuck here for-

No. Don't think like that. If he thought like that'd he'd just fall into a rut.

Again.

He didn't want to go there again. He couldn't take it.

He stopped to examine his surroundings.

Still in the back alleys. Right. He had to stay away from where there were lots of people. Couldn't draw attention to himself. It only led to bad things.

But he'd seen the look on that idiot's face. He was suspicious. Did he _know?_

He couldn't.

He _couldn't_.

Dammit! Why was he thinking about this so much? He should be focused on running! He had to find somewhere to hide; somewhere nobody could find him and then-

He turned a corner and ran right into a dead end.

He looked back, but nobody was following him. Apparently. Thankfully.

Then the wall exploded.

Edward jumped back, landing like a cat while simultaneously shielding himself with his arms. He avoided clapping. Didn't need to bring in any more attention than he had already.

"Sorry!" yelled a voice from within the dust. "I didn't hurt anyone, did I?"

The blonde boy coughed and cleared the air in front of his face.

"No," he choked while still trying (unsuccessfully) to sound snarky. "Not so you'd notice!"

The dust settled to reveal a… they were called Wallops, weren't they?

"I really didn't mean to hurt you," he said with a degree of innocence that only made Edward feel nauseous. "Hey, wait! You're the guy I'm supposed to be chasing after!"

"Aw, dammit," Edward swore, bracing himself for either a fight or a second round of running. "You're one of them, aren't you?"

"If by them you mean Storm Hawks, then yeah," the stranger replied, "and Aerrow told me how you attacked him while I was looking for you, and for the record I don't really like it when people try to hurt my friends."

He slammed his fists together and they glowed with brilliant and strangely ferocious green energy.

"So are you gonna come quietly or what?" he asked.

Edward looked him up and down.

"You're big," he commented.

The quite clearly teenage Wallop raised a confused eyebrow.

"I've fought bigger," the short boy added with a cheeky smile.

"Is that a no?"

"No, it's a SCREW YOU!"

He charged at the Wallop, fist rising for the clout of a lifetime, but he was beaten to the punch (literally) when a glowing green fist was swung in his direction with far more speed than somebody that muscular should possess. Luckily, as he had stated, Edward had experience with fighting opponents such as this and he not only ducked in time, but grabbed the arm and slammed his right fist into his attacker's face.

The Wallop reeled back, stunned, and Edward took the opportunity to run past him and out of sight.

"Hey!" said the adolescent voice behind him. "Hey, you made my nose bleed! HEY!"

"Sorry, big guy!" Edward shouted. "I already got enough problems without someone like you making another one for me!"

He turned another corner and kept running, eventually reaching a wall with a series of drainpipes running up the side and connecting to a gutter at the top. Without any consideration as to whether they could take his weight he grabbed onto one and started climbing.

'Damn,' he internally swore. 'Wish I could just make myself some handholds and get this over with, but people in this world don't seem to know about-'

_Thwack_

A small stone flew down and hit him squarely on the left shoulder.

"Ow!" he shouted.

When he looked up, he saw a blue furry… _something_ standing in the gutter up above, raising another rock in its little paw before throwing it down. He ducked out of the way and in the process almost fell off the pipe, luckily regaining his grip in time.

He looked back up and for the first time noticed the little silver badge pinned to the vest the creature was for some reason wearing.

"Oh, come on!" he shouted. "How many of you guys are there? Hell, I don't even know what you _are!_"

Then he realised what it was. It was raising another rock, this time with a suspiciously evil-looking grin. Edward pulled himself a little further away from the not-so-welcoming ground.

"Can you _not_ do that?" he asked pointlessly. "What're you doing this for, anyway? Why do you wanna knock me off?"

The blue furry whatever looked shocked, then shook its head and made a noise almost like it was saying 'No!'

"Oh, really?" Edward said sarcastically. "Then what…"

He looked down at the sound of approaching footsteps.

The teenage Wallop ran into view, blood drying on his lower face. He smiled when he saw the blue thing.

"Thanks, Radarr!" he shouted while waving.

Then he punched the pipe.

Edward couldn't avoid screaming as it leaned back, threatening to smash him down into either the wall or the ground, but thankfully his instincts kicked in at just the right moment and he unwrapped his legs. The momentum from the jolt of the pipe colliding with the wall of the building opposite helped him swing up so that he was on top of the tube, and he scrambled up and onto the roof.

"See ya, suckers!" he shouted as he continued running.

Running over the rooftops was far more difficult than it was on the roads and in the alleyways, but it was worth it if he could not only escape those weirdoes but also see where he was going. Just so long as he could remain out of sight-

_**HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK**_

-and just as he was about to finish that hopeful thought, a gigantic double-eagle-faced metal behemoth that blared like a car on caffeine rose into view from behind the buildings, and poor Edward almost jumped right out of his skin at the terrifying sight.

Once he had got over the shock of this unbelievable _monster_ roaring right into his face, he squinted, trying to get a good look at the pilot. He could only barely make him out: green skin, lanky black hair and a massive grin that was downright evil looking. It didn't take the black-clad boy long to realise that this was yet _another_ person intent on hunting him down, and this was only seconds before something exploded behind him and threw him forward, almost knocking him off the roof.

It was another of those crossbow bolts.

But how? He was so far away! Unless…

'Crap,' he thought. 'They've got a Hawkeye of their own!'

Up here he was even more of a sitting duck than he was in the alleys, so he swung down and jumped from window ledges to drainpipes and back again until he was back on the ground. As tempting as it was to just solve this problem by just making an exit in one of these walls, he knew he couldn't afford to be outed. This was a world that apparently relied on magic crystals, after all. How would they react to something like _that?_

He wanted to keep running, but he was having trouble breathing and his leg was beginning to get tired from all the strain; it had been several days since he'd done something as strenuous as this. He stopped at a corner and bent over, clutching his knees and trying to catch his breath.

"Dammit," he gasped. "How many… of those bastards… are there?"

He grabbed a nearby corner so he didn't fall over.

"Only six."

Then he jumped up again, and when he looked he saw the red-headed stickman leaning casually against the wall as if he did this every day.

"Well, seven sometimes," he said. "It depends on whether or not Starling's in the area."

"I don't care!" Edward managed to shout. "That question was rhetorical; I wasn't asking for an answer! I don't give a damn how many of you there are!"

"And yet you want our help?" asked Aerrow.

He started walking towards the shorter boy.

"If you just told us what you know, we'd probably stop chasing you," Aerrow helpfully pointed out. "So why don't you just give up? It'll make it easier on all of us, you included."

Edward pushed himself back up and raised his fists, but still staggered a little from exhaustion.

"I wouldn't try that if I were you," said Aerrow. "I'm the first person to ever beat one of Cyclonia's most fearsome commanders in a one-on-one fight; I think I could take you pretty easily."

"That's what you-"

The shorter boy froze in mid-sentence, a look of horror washing over his face. For a moment it had looked as if he was about to clap his hands, but he lowered them soon after with an expression of absolute fury.

"What was that about?" asked Aerrow.

"None of your goddamn business what that was!" Edward snapped, blushing in humiliation. "It was nothing, alright?"

"'Coz it kinda looked like you were gonna-"

"JUST _SHUT UP!_" Edward shouted, and he swung a fist at Aerrow's face.

The Sky Knight stepped out of the way, grabbed the boy's wrist and swung him to the side and out of the way, but rather than coming back around for another hit like he had been expecting, Edward shook himself free of the vivid red coat and kept running, the removal revealing his golden hair to be long and braided and reaching almost to his mid-back.

"I'll never stop, you hear me?" he shouted over his shoulder. "I'll never stop! You're gonna have to be some kind of strategic mastermind to pull one over on me- WHA!"

The 'wha' was because at that precise moment, a rather dainty hand reached out, grabbed hold of the thick golden braid and yanked him back. He was too shocked at first even to struggle.

"Well then," said a cheerful feminine voice, the source of which he couldn't quite see, "glad to know my efforts are appreciated! And for the record, having such long hair does make it pretty easy to grab onto."

Edward twisted around to see that his braid was in the grip of a pretty, dark-skinned girl who smiled down at him in such a sly way that it almost made him sick.

"Who are you to lecture me on long hair?!" he demanded.

"My hair may be kinda long," she said, "but at least I don't make it into a nice convenient handle."

"SHUT UP! LONG HAIR LOOKS SUAVE AND COOL ON GUYS!" Edward screamed with all the maturity of a five-year-old.

"Are you sure?" asked Aerrow as he approached. "Are you sure it's not just because no barber can stand to be near you for more than five minutes?"

"And you can shut up too!" cried Edward. "Your hair looks like a cannibal hedgehog!"

"Cannibal… what?"

"Don't pretend you didn't _ow will you stop that_," said Edward as the girl tugged firmly on his hair.

"You think you got him handled, Piper?" asked Aerrow.

"Handled?" said Piper. "Give me some credit, Aerrow. I think I can handle some long-haired shorty."

"No, don't-"

"WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO CALL ME A PINT-SIZED PIPSQUEAK WHO CAN BARELY SEE OVER THE TOP OF HIS OWN SHOES?!" screamed Edward, and Piper had to quickly switch her hand to his forehead to keep him from coming any closer.

Aerrow could only watch in bafflement.

"Let's… just… get back to the Condor," he said weakly as the blonde continued ranting.

* * *

><p>"Edward Elric. Rank: Major. Number 309094."<p>

"Dude, is that just all you know how to say?" asked Finn. "You sound like a broken record!"

"That's just it, he _does_ say other things," said Aerrow, then looked to Edward. "So why don't you?"

Edward's fists clenched on his knees.

"Edward Elric," he repeated. "Rank: Major. Number 309094."

"Will you _stop_ that?!" Finn almost shouted.

"While it is quite likely that this boy simply contracted Vocal Repititis," Stork added, "and I highly doubt we should completely rule out that possibility, I think it's far more plausible that he's simply being difficult."

The long-haired boy hissed through his teeth.

"Look, I'm not gonna tell you guys anything until I know for sure I can trust you," he said, "and you can't force anything out of me either. I know my rights."

"Rights?" Aerrow said, baffled.

"Yeah, don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about," said Edward. "All I need to say is my name, my rank and my number, and you guys aren't allowed to use force to get anything else out of me. Anyone with a brain cell and a half knows that much at least."

Well, apparently _they_ didn't.

"Wha… _who_ knows that?" asked the bemused Finn. "Dude, what planet did you say you were from?"

Edward raised an eyebrow, obviously unimpressed, as Piper entered the room.

"Is Junko okay?" asked Aerrow.

"Yeah, he's fine," she reported. "He couldn't remember whether you're supposed to lean forwards or backwards. I told him forwards, unless he wanted to bleed out of his eyes."

Five faces contorted into grimaces of disgust.

"You didn't have to punch him, you know," she said to the smallest human in the room.

"One, I kinda forgot that my right arm packs more of a punch than my left," said Edward, "and two, I actually did 'coz the guy wouldn't leave me alone. Didn't anyone ever tell you guys that it's not a good idea to convince someone to trust them by hunting them down like some wild animal?"

"Could you at least tell us how old you are?" asked Aerrow.

"Yeah, so I know whether or not it's okay for me to whack you, 'coz you're really getting annoying," Finn added.

"Sure," said Edward. "I'm fifteen."

Silence fell upon the bridge.

"What? What's wrong with that?"

Nobody was quite sure what to say.

"Guys, what's going on?" Junko asked as he entered with an icepack clutched to his nose. "Why's everybody-"

"Ssh!" Finn ran over to him with a finger over his lips, then pointed at Edward and whispered "See that kid?"

"Yeah," Junko responded, "he's the one who-"

"He's _fifteen_."

"Huh?" The Wallop looked from his best friend to the sitting boy and back, over and over, as if hoping this would somehow bring some clarity into the situation. "No, he can't be! He's so…"

"I know, right?"

"Aerrow, aren't you going to be fifteen in a few months?" Piper whispered to the redhead.

"I think so," Aerrow replied. "But… that doesn't explain…"

"I'm, uh, going to stay out of this," Stork said, and stalked away to hide _behind_ the helm. "Whatever's caused what I assume you're all talking about, it can't be healthy."

"What's with all the whispering?" Edward demanded. "So I'm fifteen, so what? It shouldn't matter, I'm probably younger than all of you."

Yet more silence.

"I'm gonna tell him," Finn said with a mischievous smile.

"Don't you dare!" said Piper.

"Wait," said Edward, who was finally starting to put it all together. "No. No, you're joking, right? You're _joking_."

Aerrow cleared his throat, hoping it would lessen the awkwardness a little (which, of course, it didn't).

"The only one here who's older than you is Stork," he said, indicating the pilot, "and he's about… uh…"

"Twenty," Stork chimed in.

"Yeah, that," said Aerrow. "As for the rest of us (apart from Radarr, who we're not really sure about) we're… um… fourteen."

Edward gave him what could only be described as a death glare from the darkest depths of hell. None of the Storm Hawks had known until that moment that a single person could ever look so angry.

He got out of the chair, slowly and carefully and, with a strange air of patience, walked over to Aerrow and stood in front of him, looking up at his face – the key word here being 'up'. When he didn't, the tip of his little hair antenna only _barely_ reached the same height as the Sky Knight's shoulder.

In one way it was adorable. In another it was hilarious. And in one strange way, it was a very tense and very worrying moment as the short blonde slowly got angrier and angrier with every passing second.

"Did I do something wrong?" Aerrow asked, nonplussed.

The shorter boy growled in rage.

"How can you be a _whole year_ younger than me and yet so much TALLER than me?!" he demanded, shoving a finger in the redhead's face and childishly stamping his foot.

"Probably because I don't stomp myself into the ground," Aerrow said, crossing his arms and smiling smugly. "You know, like you're doing right now?"

Edward groaned, turned on his heels and fell to his knees.

"I hate everything," he muttered.

They couldn't contain themselves any longer. This boy's behaviour was so dramatic and just downright _bizarre_ that every member of the Storm Hawks burst out laughing, and all the short blonde could do was glare at them all with reproach. If anything, that just made it funnier.

"Yeah, ha ha ha," he said sarcastically, "let's all laugh at the apparently vertically challenged guy."

"Apparently?!" Finn was laughing the hardest, but he still managed to speak. "Dude, you've gotta be the shortest guy older than me that I've ever seen in my whole life!"

"Uh, Finn?" Aerrow sadly went unheard while, on the floor, Edward clenched his fists.

"I mean, the first time I saw you, I thought you were like, twelve!" Finn continued relentlessly. "And then you come in here and you say you're a whole year older than us? Did somebody sit on you or something?"

"Finn?" said Piper as Edward started growling, and she swiped her hand in a cutting motion at her throat. "_Ixnay_ on the _ortshay_."

"No, no! One more, please?" said the still-ignorant Finn. "Come on! What's he gonna do to me, anyway? Bite my ankles?"

Edward suddenly sprang to his feet and launched himself at the marksman, who screamed and took to cowering behind Junko and was only saved by Aerrow catching the shorter boy's collar in the nick of time.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO TINY HE COULD SAFELY SLEEP INSIDE AN OYSTER AND USE THE PEARL INSIDE AS A PILLOW BECAUSE IT'S THE ONLY THING SMALL ENOUGH?!" he ranted. "YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME! CAN'T YOU TELL I'M STILL GROWING, YOU AIR-HEADED MORON?!"

"See," said Stork, "this is why I don't get involved."

"I should've warned you," Aerrow said as Edward continued swiping at thin air, "height is kind of a sensitive topic for this guy."

"Yeah," Finn squeaked, "I figured!"

"GET OUT HERE AND FIGHT ME, YOU SPINY-HEADED SON OF A BITCH!" Edward yelled. "Dammit! Get off me, Flyboy!"

"Flyboy?" Aerrow was about as confused as it's possible for somebody to get.

"You fly, don't you?" Edward asked as if this was supposed to be some kind of explanation.

"Wait," said Junko, and he pointed at the angry boy. "What's that on your arm?"

"Huh?" Edward snapped out of his rage alarmingly quickly.

"Is that metal?" Junko asked. "Why do you have metal on your arm?"

His swiping at an end, Edward stepped back and moved his right sleeve slightly, revealing what was definitely a metal plate that appeared to extend beyond the boundary of his white glove.

"Oh, that," he said, as if only just realising it was there. "I was born with a withered arm and leg, so I have to wear this armour stuff to reinforce them. It does get in the way occasionally, but I've kinda lost count of all the times it's saved my ass."

"Is that why it hurt so much when you hit me?" asked Aerrow, rubbing his cheek and glad to have both hands free at last. "'Coz I feel like you might've loosened one of my teeth or something."

"Yeah, it does pack a pretty hard punch," said Edward, pulling his sleeve down again. "Sorry about that."

Finn peered over Junko's shoulder.

"Is it over?" he asked. "Why didn't somebody tell me he didn't like being called short?"

Edward growled in resurfacing rage.

"I'd give that a rest if I were you, Finn," said Piper. "Your name's Edward, isn't it? If you want us to help you get home, could you at least tell us where it is?"

"It's…" The boy was suddenly hesitant. "Amestris. In the east."

"Amestris?" It was now Piper's turn to be confused. "I've charted almost all of Atmos and I've never heard of any place called Amestris."

"It's… uh… kinda under the radar," said Edward.

"No, Aerrow's under Radarr," Finn retorted, indicating the blue creature sitting on the Sky Knight's shoulder. "You're just making stuff up."

"It's a real place!" Edward insisted. "I should know, I live there! Or at least I did until I wound up in this stink hole!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Isn't anybody going to mention that disgusting pun?" asked Stork.

"If it's a real place, what's the name of your sky squadron?"

"We don't have one. We don't _need_ one."

"Seriously," Stork continued, regardless of the ignorance he was faced with. "Are you all just ignoring it? 'Under Radarr'? Really?"

"Is this symbol on the back of your coat supposed to mean anything?" asked Aerrow, who was holding the red garment and examining the black markings while Radarr leaned down and gently felt the material, then picked up one of the sleeves and rubbed it on his cheek when he discovered how soft it was. "What's it supposed to be, some squadron's insignia?"

Edward glared at him with contempt.

"Gimme that," he said, and snatched it back. "It's called a flamel and honestly, I'm not all that surprised that you don't recognise it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Junko asked indignantly. "That we're stupid? 'Coz we're not!"

"Can one of you come over here for a moment?"

"No," said Edward, donning the coat. "Just that you don't know very much about me so you shouldn't be making judgements about me so quickly."

"The only reason we're making judgments about you is 'coz you're being so annoying!" Finn walked right up to the shorter blonde and stared straight down at his face. "You say you want our help? How about starting by actually saying what you want help with?"

"I need to get home as quickly as possible, I already said!" Edward insisted.

"Then why don't you tell us where it is?!" By now Finn was practically shouting.

"Didn't I just tell you?!" Edward was getting rather loud as well. "Amestris, more specifically, a little place called Resembool! In the east!"

"There's really something very important that you all should know about once you're done with that noise-"

"Oh yeah?" said Finn. "C'mon, I doubt a pipsqueak like you even knows which way east is!"

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING SO SMALL THAT THE ONLY WAY HE COULD PLAY ANY KIND OF PIANO IS BY STEPPING ON ALL THE INDIVIDUAL KEYS AND HE'S SO TINY IT'S AMAZING HE DOESN'T FALL RIGHT DOWN BETWEEN THEM?!"

"Guys, will you give it a rest?" said Aerrow as Junko wrapped Edward in a headlock, with a face which said he'd rather be anywhere but there. "This is already weird enough as it is without you guys fighting!"

"Don't call it a fight, dude" said Finn, "'coz that'd mean we're evenly matched, right? It's hardly a fight when I could win it just by stepping on the guy."

"WILL YOU CUT IT OUT WITH THE COMMENTS ON MY GODDAMN HEIGHT?!" Edward demanded, and poor Junko was having a hard time keeping his grip. "I'M _NOT_ SHORT! IT'S THE REST OF THIS WORLD THAT'S TOO DAMN BIG!"

"I seriously can't believe what I'm witnessing," Piper said quietly.

"I don't mean to bother anybody," said Stork, "but unless _one_ of you starts listening to me we are all going to be well and truly DOOMED!"

At that, everybody else finally started paying attention to him. Radarr leapt off Aerrow's shoulder and bounded over to the periscope and peered through. He screeched in alarm, prompting Aerrow to approach and take his turn.

"Oh boy," he said, "that's not good."

"What is it?" asked the now calmed Edward as Junko set him down.

"See for yourself," Aerrow said, offering the periscope.

Edward pulled the periscope down to eye level ("You think he wants a stool to stand on?" Finn asked quietly, causing Junko and Piper to snigger) and peered through.

He saw flocks of skimmers all ridden by men wearing the same uniform, surrounding a massive blood-red cruiser, making for an epic and definitely ominous spectacle.

"Cyclonians," Aerrow informed the rest of his squad. "A lot of them, heading straight for Atmosia. Doesn't look like they got any big names with them but at the rate they're moving, they'll be here within an hour, so we gotta move and we gotta move _fast_."

"Ugh, FINALLY!" cried Finn. "Some real action, at last!"

"You want us to go get suited up?" asked Junko.

"Go for it," said Aerrow.

Everyone except him, Stork and Edward punched the air and whooped with joy. Stork sighed in annoyance and Edward just looked baffled.

"Oh," Aerrow said when he noticed this, "you're gonna stay here. You wanna make it home safe? Try not to get involved in this because these situations tend to get hairy."

"I wasn't gonna complain," Edward said, holding up his hands defensively.

"Good!" said Aerrow, glad that he wasn't arguing again. "I'm sure Stork will be okay with you. Sit back and enjoy the show!"

He left the bridge.

"Is he always so… laid back?" Edward asked. "I gotta admit, it's a bit unnerving!"

Stork sighed.

"You have _no_ idea," he said.

* * *

><p><strong>I know, I know, it's not as long as the previous one, and I apologise profusely for how long it took me to get this chapter finished. It's just that school has just been Ass. SLAPPAGE. Ever since I started once again. I understand that it's my final year so there's a lot of pressure for me to pass and stuff, but still! You'd think they'd be a little more understanding of the student's mental health! I guess I'm lucky since I'm not one of those who has a job (mostly because I plan on leaving that until I finish school) but it still feels pretty damn hectic.<strong>

**I think my favourite part of writing this story is coming up with the various rants Ed has when people call him short. I don't want to just copy-paste them from the source material because that'd be pretty cheap, and as creative writing goes, it's not very creative. I came up with that piano one when I was listening to, you guessed it, piano music.**

**It's totally possible that Finn and Ed would bug each other. Just the clash seems pretty entertaining.**

**Hopefully the next chapter won't take quite as long to type up, since it's mostly going to be Ed and Stork (wondering if I can work in a reference to the fact that Stork's VA played Hohenheim in the first FMA).**

**Please review, I love to hear what you think!**


	4. Chapter 4

The engines flared with immense power, lifting the Condor clear of the ground, and Edward stumbled and caught the railing just before he fell.

"Watch your step," Stork said flatly without even looking.

"Thank you," Edward said with just as much enthusiasm.

He watched as the rest of the team flew out on their individual rides, screwing his eyebrows in confusion when he saw that they apparently called armour.

'How the hell is that supposed to protect _anything?!_' he wondered.

"So, um…" he said slowly, deciding to let that point slide as he would probably be considered weird for bringing it up, "…exactly how often do you guys do this sort of thing?"

"You mean plunging headfirst at terminal velocity into certain doom?" asked Stork. "Definitely more often than I would prefer, usually about once a week. Two weeks if we're lucky; most of the time we're… _not_. To say the least. I try not to question why it's almost always on Saturday mornings."

Edward whistled appreciatively.

"Sounds like you've had plenty of practice," he said.

"Unfortunately, yeah," said Stork. "We'll just shake them up a bit and send them home. The folks on Atmosia will never even know they were here if we're lucky-"

He was cut off when one of the pipes ruptured and started spewing steam at an alarming rate.

"Is that bad?" asked Edward.

"No, we use it to cook noodles," Stork said sarcastically. "Of course it's bad! Turn that valve there and release the pressure before the whole thing blows us to smithereens!"

The short blonde hurried over the wheel and heaved it around, and the steam quickly died down, allowing him to set the pipe back into position.

"Wow, that's rusty," he commented. "Wait, all these pipes are rusty! Just how old is this ship anyhow?"

"I honestly have no idea," Stork replied. "She set the airspeed record over a hundred years ago, but I think most of her has been replaced or rebuilt since then. I've improved everything I can. Even added extra-large cup holders."

"Yeah," said Edward, "'coz in a combat situation the one thing you have to focus on is not spilling your drinks, right?"

Stork just rolled his eyes at this. _Kids_. Never understood what was important did they?

"But seriously," Edward continued, "this thing's _that_ old?! How do you know it's not going to fall out of the sky the moment it takes a single shot? What's it held together with, bootlaces? There's only so long a vehicle can hold up before it rusts out from under your feet!"

"Hey!" Stork whipped around. "I will not have you speaking that way about my Condor!"

"Your…?"

"If you don't like the way she operates, then you can step off right this moment because she has been running beautifully for as long as she's needed to and I'm not planning to give up on her any time soon! So either suck it up or get out of my ship! Door's right there if you need it!"

Edward glanced over at the door.

"Thanks," he said, "I-I'm good. Sorry."

Stork turned back to the windscreen.

"You should be," he grumbled moodily.

The blonde did his best not to stare.

'Is he seriously the eldest person in this group?' he wondered. 'He's almost as petty and obsessive as Mustang! No, scratch that: nobody is as petty and obsessive as Mustang. _Nobody_.'

"Hold on!"

He barely had time to tighten his grip on the railing before the ship suddenly curved upwards and his feet left the ground, and he tried and failed to avoid screaming.

"Can you STOP BEING CRAZY?!" he demanded. "For _two_ minutes?!"

"At this point I'm questioning whether or not I had any sanity to begin with," Stork said calmly.

He levelled out, more suddenly and quickly than he usually did, and Edward was flung forward face-first onto the glass before him.

Stork sighed and rolled his eyes in irritation. He hated it when he got bugs splattered on the windscreen; it always took ages to clean off properly and the stain never completely disappeared. Plus they always left a smear as they slipped off.

"Why did you do that?" Edward asked faintly.

"Because I installed this just last week and have been dying to try it out ever since," Stork said with a sinister smile, and he pulled a lever to his left.

On the base of a ship, a hatch opened up and emptied a barrage of deep green slime onto the red battle cruiser below, coating it in sludge that was probably as stinking and noxious as it was ugly. The blonde had to press his face right up against the windscreen to see it properly.

"Uh," Edward said inelegantly, "what the hell was that?"

"Three-month-old Merbian cabbages," Stork declared proudly. "No better method of disposal than onto a different form of garbage."

A sudden explosion rocked the ship.

"I think they heard that," Edward shouted. "Hit 'em again!"

"Um, no," said Stork.

"Why not?!"

"Do _you_ have any three-month-old Merbian cabbages?"

"Hell no!"

"Then I CAN'T!"

He wrenched the controls to the side and Edward was tipped into a wall, and then to the other side, causing the hapless teenager to slide, screaming, across the floor to the far side of the room, and he could have sworn a chicken fell past him at one point. Thankfully he landed on his feet, but the noise he made would have woken a sleeping god.

"Will you be QUIET?" Stork yelled. "I'm trying to concentrate on evasive manoeuvres here!"

"Well, be CAREFUL!" Edward yelled back, and was once again tossed about by a second, much louder and definitely closer explosion. He climbed to his hands and knees and started looking around, apparently trying to think.

"I swear," Stork muttered, "if any of you dare to put so much as a _scratch_ on my Condor…"

He trailed off as a crack blossomed across the windscreen, covering multiple panes of glass and spreading like a plague, which was appropriate, because it was just as welcome as a plague.

Stork growled in rage.

Edward, however, scrambled over to his original position.

"I-is that just glass?" he asked frantically. "Nothing special to it or-"

"YES, it's just glass!" Stork snapped. "Why do you care?!"

He sent the ship into a spiral, whirling in a downwards direction, and poor Edward nearly lost his grip again. By the time they levelled out, the windscreen was on the verge of shattering completely.

"To hell with it!" Edward cried, and he slipped under the railing.

"And what do you think y-" Stork began.

Edward ignored him and clapped, pressing his hands together in front of his chest as if he was praying, with an expression on his face of pure concentration. He then placed his palms upon the broken glass, and the pilot would have grabbed him by the collar and dragged him away had the surface not crackled with what looked like blue lightning and then, in a wash of light...

…it was fixed.

Just like that.

There wasn't even any sign that it had ever been broken.

"Wha… wh… how…" Stork stammered in stunned disbelief.

Behind him, a pipe ruptured and started spewing steam, as pipes on the Condor were wont to do. Quick as a whip, Edward darted over to it and, with another clap, sealed it up like nothing had happened.

"I told you this thing would start falling apart!" he said.

"No," Stork said weakly, "this sort of thing happens all the time…"

Edward returned to the railing.

"Wow, is it over already?" he asked, looking out at the almost empty sky. "Did we win?"

He looked over at the pilot.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" he asked.

Stork calmly stepped away from the helm.

"I've just figured out _exactly_ what I'm going to do with you," he said quietly, prodding the boy in the chest for added effect.

Edward gulped in terror.

* * *

><p>Aerrow touched his cheek and sighed when he saw the crimson liquid on his fingertips.<p>

"Why does this keep happening?" he asked.

"Why does what keep happening?" asked Junko as he rubbed his freed knuckles.

"This cut," said Aerrow, wiping the blood away with a face of disdain. "I don't get it; it keeps popping open all the time. It happened earlier when Edward punched me. Is it ever gonna heal?"

"I'm still a bit fuzzy on how that happened," said Finn. "You said the guy had a knife?"

"Yeah," said Aerrow, "but the way he fought with it, it was like it was part of his arm, it was really weird."

"And you're lucky it was such a clean cut," Piper commented. "It's 'coz you keep getting into fights, so of course it'll tear from the strain. You just have to be more careful."

They all stopped and looked at each other.

And then burst out laughing. Really, it was inevitable given what had just been suggested. Even Radarr, perched as always on Aerrow's shoulder, let out a little giggle.

"You're kidding," Aerrow eventually managed, "right?"

"Yeah," said Piper, "I guess that was a little dumb, wasn't it?"

Finn, meanwhile, walked over to the door to the bridge.

"If we open this door and Stork has completely slaughtered that dwarf," he said, "I honestly will not be surprised in the slightest."

Aerrow took a deep breath.

"Let's get this over with," he said.

The door opened, and they all stared in shock.

"Is that it?" asked Stork from his usual position at the helm. "Have you done all of them?"

"Yep! I think that's the last one," Edward said cheerfully – for some reason, he was standing with his hands on one of the pipes. "Looks like your precious hunk-a-junk is gonna stay airborne for a few decades longer."

"If you say one more negative thing about this ship, I swear-"

"What in the wide world of Atmosia is going on?" asked Piper, effectively voicing the thoughts of all five of the newcomers.

"Oh," Edward said nervously as he caught sight of the audience, "um… nothing."

"It is _far_ from nothing," Stork said proudly. "And I… I don't even know what it is!"

"What the heck are you guys talking about?" Finn demanded.

Edward slowly lowered his hands and looked over at the pilot with an expression that could only be described as pleading.

"Sorry," said Stork, "you're on your own, little guy."

"_LITTLE?!_"

"How about you just explain what you guys are talking about?" said Aerrow, and he put a hand on Edward's shoulder to discourage him from taking this latest outburst any further.

Edward's fists clenched and unclenched. Eventually, he sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Fine," he growled. "Has anybody got a spare piece of metal I could use?"

"Metal?" said Piper. "Why metal?"

"I can do it with anything, but for me it works best with metal," said Edward. "Just an old lump of iron or steel? No alloys or anything, it's just for a demonstration. Heck, I'll even settle for copper or lead."

An air of confusion settled over the group.

"Well… uh… Junko's always got a load of scrap in his room," Piper suggested.

"What?" cried Junko. "But-but that's my stuff! I've barely rebuilt my collection since that whole thing in the Black Gorge! You can't-"

"I only need one piece," Edward said flatly.

Junko's face fell.

"Okay," he said dejectedly. "I'll be right back."

He left, looking like the weight of the world had just been thrust upon his shoulders.

."What exactly is this thing you're talking about?" asked Aerrow.

"It'd take too long to explain," said Edward, who right now looked almost like a cornered animal and seemed just as aggressively defensive. "I'll just say for the moment that it's not anything that special and back where I come from… Just understand that there are other people back home that can do this, okay? I'm not special, I'm really not!"

"Gee, I wonder if it's special or not," Finn said sarcastically.

"Will you just shut up?" Edward snapped.

"Hey, whoa, slow down!" said Aerrow. "What's wrong with you? You're getting really jumpy!"

"Which wouldn't really make sense if this thing _wasn't_ special," Piper pointed out.

Edward took a deep breath and exhaled like he was blowing out birthday candles.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I just… not that comfortable showing this off, especially since I arrived here. When I do this, promise you won't freak out, okay? Swear you're not gonna freak out."

"Okay, okay, we swear!" said Finn. "Just calm down, alright? You're starting to freak _me_ out!"

"Oh, trust me," Stork said. "You'll probably freak out even more when you see this."

"You're not helping," Edward snarled through gritted teeth.

At that moment, and to his relief, Junko returned carrying a small hunk of metal.

"This is just a bit of iron, alright?" he said. "No chrome, no paint, no nothing. I actually kinda just picked the plainest thing I could find, okay? So don't yell at me for it or-"

"Are you kidding me?" said Edward, and he walked over and took the chunk from the Wallop's fingers. "This is perfect. Thanks."

He knelt down and rested the metal on the ground, then pressed his hands together as if he was praying. Then he clasped them around the hunk of iron.

Which crackled with blue lightning and briefly flashed white.

When Edward took his hands away, it was in the shape of a perfect pyramid.

The Storm Hawks, save their helmsman, gasped and stared in shock and awe.

"Told ya!" Stork said smugly.

"Wh- what is- how- what-" Finn stammered.

"H-He just clapped and-" Junko added.

"How did you do that?!" Piper finally managed to say.

"What _was_ that?" asked Aerrow. "How were you able to do that? You didn't-"

"You want it to be a bit clearer?" asked Edward. "Okay, give me a second."

He produced a piece of chalk from his pants pocket and used it to draw a circle around the pyramid, a triangle within that circle, and various other shapes which appeared to only make it more intricate and complex. But when he placed his hands on either side of the outer circle with his fingers touching the edges, the drawing glowed blue-white and crackled with more lightning, and the metal reshaped itself into an alarmingly intricate miniature sculpture of Radarr.

Radarr approached and examined it cautiously while Edward sat back with crossed legs.

"It's been ages since I've used a transmutation circle," he said. "Glad I haven't gotten rusty."

"And you expected us _not_ to freak out?!" Finn practically yelled. "Dude, that's incredible, you-you're like a _god!_"

"I don't get what the big deal is!" Edward said. "Like I said, it's nothing special; it's just alchemy!"

"Wait," said Piper as the boy got to his feet again. "That thing where people try to turn metals into gold? But that's impossible, even with crystals!"

"Actually, there's more to it than that," said Edward. "Plus making your own gold is illegal. If every alchemist did that our economy would collapse in on itself due to hyperinflation."

Even Stork turned around to stare at him after this.

"Look, it'd take way too long to explain it all, alright?" Edward insisted. "And I already said Amestris has got alchemists pouring out of its ears, so it's not like this is anything major! And no, I'm not a god because if I was, I wouldn't have needed anything to work with. I'd have just pulled it outta my ass or something."

"Gross," Finn muttered.

"Guys, let's not get ahead of ourselves here," said Aerrow, and he stepped up next to Edward to make himself seen. "Yeah, it's pretty amazing that we've got someone on the Condor who can actually do magic-"

"'S'not magic, it's science," Edward mumbled.

"Okay-"

"Got nothin' to do with magic."

"Well-"

"Nothin' wrong with science, science is awesome."

"Okay, fine! So we've got a guy on the Condor now who can do awesome things with _science_," Aerrow said before he could be interrupted again, and casually leaned an elbow on Edward's shoulder as if to drive the point home, "but guys, let's face it: we have faced some _weird_ stuff in our run as a squad, right?"

There was a pause as the rest of his squadron became pensive.

"I can think of thirty-nine off the top of my head," said Stork.

"I think I can name more," said Junko. "Um… there was that time we went to Terra Neon and there was that great big tentacle monster thing!"

"Yeah, yeah!" Finn said enthusiastically. "And it had these two guys on it who were, like, talent scouts or something and they didn't like my mad air guitar skills! Dude, that was messed up!"

"The giant monster or your air guitar?" asked Junko.

"Pick one," Stork muttered.

"What about when Finn became a giant monster and Stork went nuts trying to catch him?" asked Piper. "And I mean in the literal sense, otherwise I'd be talking about every other week. You gotta admit that was pretty bizarre."

"Need we mention the Black Gorge and all the screwy-ness it entailed?" said Finn, whose eye twitched slightly at the mention of the eldritch location.

"Don't remind me," said Junko, "I still have nightmares about the vulcabats and those giant sloths!"

"And Vapos," Stork added. "Just… just Vapos. My dreams still remain haunted by the screams of giant bats and lute music."

"You see?" said Aerrow, who was still leaning on a now-rather-annoyed Edward. "So in comparison, Edward's abilities aren't all that shocking. If anything, I'd say it's one of the least surprising things we've encountered in our time as a squadron, don't you think?"

"I am still in the room, you know," Edward said quietly as everyone else voiced their agreement.

"But does that mean we have to keep him around?" Finn asked indignantly. "We already have one supernerd geeking up the Condor, why do we need another who's even more annoying?"

"HEY!" Piper and Edward shouted together.

"Finn, I think you'll find that most of the 'annoying' I do is just me trying to get you off your lazy butt," Piper pointed out.

"Have you just got something against smart people?" Edward asked. "I mean, I know dumbasses usually do, but-"

"What did you just say about me?" Finn demanded, prepping his fist for a good hard punch. "'Coz you should know I can hit any target I shoot at, no matter how small!"

"DON'T CALL ME SMALL! I'LL BREAK YOUR FEET OFF AND STICK THEM ON YOUR HEAD!" Edward screamed, and Aerrow struggled to hold him back with a headlock while Junko and Piper pulled Finn to a safe distance.

"Will you all just stop fighting for five minutes?" cried Stork. "I will _turn this ship around_, people!"

Thankfully, this prompted the two blondes to stop lunging for each other's throats, although neither looked very happy about it.

"He started it," said Finn.

"Actually, I think it was you that time," said Junko.

Finn looked at him with a face of disappointment.

"_Et tu_, Junko?" he asked sadly.

"Look, I swear," said Edward. "All I want is to just go home and then I'll be out of your lives forever. You won't even have to think about me ever again."

"Dude, that's the best news I've heard all day," Finn said bluntly.

"Finn, I think you'd better hold your tongue," said Piper.

Maintaining complete and solid eye contact with her, Finn stuck out his tongue and grasped it between his thumb and forefinger. Piper rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Are you guys finished?" asked Aerrow.

Finn nodded. Edward just went 'hmph'.

"Okay then," Aerrow said. "So, uh, Edward; if we're gonna be escorting you to this Armistice place-"

"Amestris," Edward growled.

"Whatever. If we're gonna be taking you anywhere, someone's gonna have to show you round the Condor. Can't have you getting lost, can we?"

Finn didn't say anything, but he did give Aerrow a look that said 'Are you sure?'

"I guess," said Edward. "Can you let me outta this headlock first?"

"Are you gonna start fighting again?"

"Well, uh…"

"Then no. Radarr, could you gimme a hand?"

As if reading his thoughts, Radarr leapt up onto Aerrow's arm and slapped a paw over Edward's mouth, and the short blonde was protesting the entire time he was being dragged towards the door.

By the time it shut in their wake, he was just hanging, defeated, in the Sky Knight's arm.

"Setting a course for the east," said Stork as he pulled the appropriate levers, "putting her in autopilot."

"Waith," said Finn, who was still holding his tongue, "we're noh theriouthly goin through wih dith, are we?"

"Finn, you can let go of your tongue now," said Piper.

The marksman happily obliged.

"We're not seriously going through with this, are we?" he asked. "We've barely even known this guy for a day. And he's a total jackass!"

"But we've known people for much shorter amounts of time and we've still helped them out," Junko pointed out.

"Yeah, and besides," said Piper, "you didn't even wait an entire night before deciding to pretty much start ruling Vapos."

"But that was different!" said Finn, and he sat down at the strategy table with his legs crossed on the top. "I'm their big prophesised hot-shot hero, remember? You're just jealous because I'm the Gomo!"

"_Domo_," the others corrected.

"And Piper," Finn continued, "you're only defending him because you have a thing for obnoxious blondes."

"What?! I do not!" cried Piper indignantly.

Stork coughed. It sounded suspiciously like "Domiwick!"

"Alright," Piper admitted, "but that was only one time-"

Now Junko coughed, and it sounded rather like "Harrier!" and he and Finn shared a satisfied high-five.

This time Piper didn't even speak. Judging by her facial expressions alone, it's possible she was trying to figure out a way to commit the perfect murder.

"That does explain why you seem to clash with him, Finn," said Stork as he too sat on the couch, "as the role on the Condor of irritating blonde has already been filled."

"You know what?" said Finn. "I'm not even gonna say anything to that. Just gonna keep my mouth shut!"

"Oh, for real?" asked Piper, and now she and Stork high-fived.

Finn groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Whatever," he said. "You guys do and say whatever you want and I'll join you just as soon as that lady-haired lowlife is off this ship, okay?"

"Sounds good," said Piper.

"And considering how tall he is," said Junko, "I think 'lowlife' is a pretty appropriate name, don't you?"

Finn considered this for a few moments.

Then he completely cracked up.

* * *

><p>"Hey, can I ask a question?"<p>

"You just did, but sure, go ahead."

Edward shot the Sky Knight an annoyed scowl and Aerrow and Radarr smirked back at him.

"You said Stork – your helmsman – is 'round about twenty, right?" he said.

"Uh, yeah?" Aerrow wasn't sure he liked where this was going.

"And the rest of you are all fourteen?"

"All except Radarr. We're not too sure how old he is. Do you even know, buddy?"

Radarr shrugged.

"My question is; what do your parents think about all this?" Edward asked.

"Why do you care?" Aerrow asked, staring down at the alchemist in puzzlement.

"I'm just curious," said Edward. "Do they know you do all this dangerous stuff, getting into fights and flying around on those weird bicycle things-"

"You mean our rides?"

"Whatever they're called. Do they know you're doing that? Are they okay with it?"

Aerrow paused, uncertain how to answer.

"Probably not," he concluded.

"But you're still doing it anyway?!" Edward exclaimed in shock.

Then it slowly began to dawn on him.

"You… do _have_ parents, don't you?" he asked.

Aerrow shook his head, and then shrugged.

"I probably did once, but I don't anymore," he said. "I don't even remember the last time I saw a relative. I might've been about four at the time, but I can't be sure."

For some reason, Edward looked rocked to the core.

"A-and you seriously don't mind?" he asked in apparent disbelief. "You don't even care that you don't have any parents or-or actual family?!"

"No," said Aerrow, "why?"

Edward didn't reply. He seemed so shocked that Aerrow had to pull him to one side to keep him from walking into a pipe.

He closed his eyes and shook his head.

"It's nothing," he said. "Just a bit surprising, that's all."

The door opened ahead of them, mystifying the short blonde.

"Okay, how are they doing that?" he asked. "How does a door know to open when you approach it?"

"Do you really need to question it?" said Aerrow.

Edward looked at him, then at the door, and back again several times.

"I guess not," he said, and leapt through the doorway as if something had stung him. "Just so long as it doesn't close on me, that's all."

"There are doors like this all over Atmos," Aerrow pointed out. "I think we'd know if one had closed on somebody."

The blonde still glared evilly at the door.

"I got my eye on you," he muttered as it closed. "Hey, what-"

He looked down to find Radarr tugging on his sleeve.

"Are you almost finished?" asked Aerrow. "'Coz this is probably our last stop."

"Is it?" said Edward, and rolled his eyes. "Fine."

Aerrow raised his eyebrow. This boy's attitude was really getting weird. Was he angry, confused, what? He didn't seem able to make up his mind.

"Anyway," he said, "this is the hangar bay. We keep most of our stuff in here. And out there's the runway." He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb.

Edward whistled in amazement. It echoed around the large room.

"Impressive," he said as Radarr ran back over to Aerrow. "Hey, are those the things you fly around on?"

"You bet," said Aerrow, and he leaned on the one that had a red shield on the side. "This one's mine. Pretty cool, huh?"

"_Wow_," Edward breathed, and he knelt down next to the vehicle. "You're right, this thing is really cool. Is that steel? It looks almost like it could be titanium!"

He reached out and gently felt the smooth, shining metal.

"You really know your metals, huh?" said Aerrow.

"It comes with being an alchemist," Edward explained. "You have to know what's what, but I really prefer this sort of thing. Hell, it's even my nickname."

"Nickname?"

"Yeah. Back home, they call me the Fullmetal Alchemist."

"Wow, that's… unnecessarily cool."

Edward glared at him.

"Not that your abilities aren't impressive," Aerrow added quickly.

The alchemist gave him another annoyed glare, but then turned back to the skimmer, running his fingers along the wings of the hawk insignia. Radarr quickly ran down and slapped his hand away, and he sat back with his legs crossed.

"Fine," he huffed. "You know, I've got a friend back home who would absolutely _love_ this place."

"Oh," said Aerrow, genuinely surprised that this boy was telling him something new. "Really? Does he like carriers and skimmers?"

"_She_ is obsessed with anything mechanical," Edward said. "And I know for a fact that if she saw this place, she. Would. _Freak_."

Despite his better nature, Aerrow was genuinely surprised. This guy actually had a friend? Not just that, but a female one? Given how arrogantly he behaved, it would have been far more understandable if he was a total loner.

"I gotta say, Flyboy," he said as he stood up, "this place you've got here is pretty frickin' sweet. Is it okay if I take a look around by myself?"

Aerrow shared a glance with Radarr, who shrugged.

"So long as you don't touch anything," he said.

Edward held up his hands, either defensively or just to show where they were, and departed (but not until he'd given the door a cursory glance and jumped through it like it would sting him).

Radarr pointed after him with his thumb and looked at Aerrow questioningly.

"Don't ask me," said Aerrow, "I don't get him either."

* * *

><p><strong>You know how you can go over and over something in your head, working out every detail of how it's going to go, but then when it comes to putting it on paper you draw a complete and total blank? Well, I'm afraid that's how a majority of this chapter was done. I'd already figured out Edward's revealing his alchemy to the Storm Hawks and how they'd react, but for some reason I found it rather hard to write. I guess it helps that I've become a lot more comfortable writing these characters - whenever I start on a new story, I always get a bit nervous about it. Like when I started on THJ, I was afraid of making the characters diverge from their canon portrayals, but by the time I got to chapter 5 I was pretty much settled.<strong>

**I've also discovered that Stork is a lot of fun to write.**

**I didn't write about the fight scene because you all know how it went. The Storm Hawks kicked ass and looked awesome doing it. Yadda yadda.**

**Shout out to the wonderful Storm Hawks fandom on Tumblr, who were kind enough to suggest some weirdness I could mention and are probably the nicest people you could ever hope to meet on the internet.**

**Reviews are very much appreciated!**


	5. Chapter 5

It was getting cold.

The sun hung low in the endless sky, an immense orb of golden yellow painting the sky brilliant orange and tinting the clouds bright pink. There was a light breeze blowing around in short bursts of varying strength. Really it was a beautiful evening.

This was something even Edward had to admit. The view was breath-taking.

But that didn't stop him from shivering slightly as the wind blew through his bangs and washed around his face.

You just didn't get stuff like this in Amestris. Given the choice, Edward considered, he could happily stay in a place like this for the rest of his life.

If only…

He looked down at his right hand. The mere sight of it, even with the glove on, was like a red hot poker being thrust down his throat. Not only did it hurt, but it made him feel sick somewhere further down than his stomach.

He had to hold onto it. Hell, he just plain had to hold on. He knew he would find a way home eventually. He had to. There were too many people relying on him.

Maybe he just needed a little reminder of what he was fighting for…

"Hey there, Edward."

Edward quickly pulled his sleeve up to cover his wrist and looked round to see who it was, discovering the only girl in the entire group approaching him. Her name was… Piper. Yeah, that was it. Probably the only halfway normal name in this whole place.

"Are you enjoying the view?" she asked, and stood next to him, leaning against the railing.

"Actually, yeah," Edward confessed, turning back to the colourful display. "I wish I'd brought a camera or something – we don't get stuff like this back home. What about you? Did Flyboy send you to come talk to me?"

"You do know what his name is, don't you?" Piper said, slightly annoyed.

"Duh," said Edward. "It just feels kinda weird saying it."

"Well, maybe we think your name's weird," she pointed out. "Still doesn't stop us from saying it, does it?"

It was clear the alchemist didn't know how to reply to this, so he just frowned at her as meanly as he could, but all that did was make her giggle so he gave up.

He didn't much want to look at her anyway. She was reminding him of somebody he knew.

_Way too much_.

"So what do you think of the Condor?" she asked. "She's old, I know, but she's faithful, and really she's been through too much for us to lose her. Though I've lost count of all the times _that_ has almost happened."

"She's, uh, pretty cool," said Edward, noting that it felt horrifyingly weird to refer to a collection of pipes, plating and who knows what else as a 'she'. "Rather impressive. For a flying machine, that is."

"Flying machine?" Piper repeated, and she laughed again. "Isn't that a bit of a general term? It could mean anything! It could mean-"

"Look, we don't have technology like this in Amestris, alright?" Edward said defensively. "So this is all pretty damn new to me."

"Don't have…" Piper was now confused. "But then, how did you even get here?"

"Stowed away," Edward said hurriedly. "I stowed away on a ship, alright?"

Piper raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"I'm not making this up, I swear," Edward insisted, raising his hands defensively and backing away. "Please don't pull on my hair again! And definitely don't throw any wrenches at me!"

"Throw wrenches?" said an even more baffled Piper. "Why would I want to throw any tools at anybody? Much less a wrench."

Edward sighed with relief.

"If I was going to throw anything, it would be a screwdriver," she said. "They're far more aerodynamic, especially if you throw them overarm like a dart. Though I guess anything would be better than a hammer, seeing as they're so top heavy they'd probably spin over and over and only deal a glancing blow at best. Now a _spanner_ on the other hand, those are almost perfectly balanced so-"

"I'm beginning to feel very uncomfortable with this conversation," said Edward bluntly.

Piper stopped in her rambling tracks.

"Sorry," she said. "I got a bit carried away, didn't I?"

"Nah, it's my fault," replied Edward. "I shouldn't have brought it up. It's just that you remind me of somebody I know, that's all."

He went back to gazing soulfully out at the cloudscape. By now the sun had almost vanished beneath the top layer.

"This home of yours," said Piper, hoping to reduce the awkwardness a little, "what's it like? How come you don't have sky rides or a squadron?"

"Amestris?" Edward said. "It… it would take way too long to explain it all. I-it's complicated. Suffice to say we're pretty reliant on alchemy for lots of things and it's practically shaped our way of living."

"You don't use crystals?"

"We don't _need_ crystals. We get by on fossil fuels like coal and oil. And I'm sorry, but I'm not really all that comfortable talking about it."

Right now he seemed determined to look anywhere but at Piper.

"I guess that's only natural," she said. "Being this far from home… you must miss it, right?"

Edward turned to look at her again, but it seemed like every single drop of malice had been removed from his gaze no matter how hard he was trying to convey it. He didn't say anything, but his expression was doing the talking for him, whether he realised it or not, and at the moment his eyes were saying just one word, over and over again, getting louder and louder with every passing repeat:

_Help_.

Then he looked away again.

"Are you okay?" asked Piper, now genuinely concerned.

The sun vanished below the clouds as Edward sighed, his face once again betraying his depression.

"It's nothing," he said. "Nothing for you to worry about."

"You sure about that?"

Edward didn't reply. He stared out at the darkening sky, caught somewhere between fear and brooding. Piper could tell she wasn't going to get much more out of him, so she left him there, gazing at the clouds.

He could tell it was going to be a beautiful night. There were already stars winking down at him, their cold light doing nothing to ease his mood. He wouldn't have minded so much, but the fact that he didn't recognise _any_ constellations here, or even the shapes of the craters and seas on the moon, only served to remind him that he was far, very far, from home.

Without hearing them, he knew that these people – these Storm Hawks – were talking about him right now. He didn't belong here. In this place, he was a complete and total freak.

Not that he wasn't a freak already, of course.

But that was for a different reason entirely.

And one that, if he played his cards right, these people would never have to know about.

Seriously though, _how_ was it possible for all but one of them to be younger than him and yet even the shortest had almost a whole head over him? It didn't make any sense!

And it didn't help that said shortest was a complete asshole.

Ugh, this was painful to think about.

'If only you were here, Al,' he thought as another gust of wind ruffled his bangs. 'I get the feeling you'd really love it here.'

Even with the rumbling of the Condor's engines, it was still very peaceful. He thought back to the nights he'd spent in various cities around his home country, closing his eyes to the lamps that lined the streets and letting the distant sounds of passing vehicles and muffled chatter in the neighbouring rooms sing him to sleep, like a lullaby of urban white noise.

It was something he would give anything to experience again.

Great. Now he was just making himself depressed.

_Again_.

"Are you really okay out here?"

He looked round again. This time it was Junko, who wore a band-aid on his nose and looked a little apprehensive about approaching.

"Yeah," said Edward, "why?"

"Piper said you looked kinda worried about something," the Wallop replied.

"Well, so do you," Edward pointed. "If it's because of earlier, I'm not gonna hit you again, I promise."

Junko narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"You swear it?" he asked.

"Cross my heart and hope to die," said Edward in what he hoped was a friendly tone, and he even made crossing motions over his chest. "Trust me. It's practically my purpose in life to keep promises."

Carefully, as though afraid the alchemist would suddenly leap out and bite him, Junko walked over to where he stood and leaned against the railing.

"It's a pretty view," he commented.

"I know," said Edward. "You don't get things like this back home."

The pause in the conversation quickly became awkward as the pink clouds faded to a deep shade of red.

"Do you really only have fossil fuels where you come from?" Junko asked.

"Huh? Yeah," Edward replied. "In fact, I remember this one time I went to a town where the whole reason it was there was because they were mining coal. Had to take care of some obnoxious geezer while I was at it."

"Really?" said a suddenly intrigued Junko. "What was that like? What happened?"

Edward smiled.

"Well…"

* * *

><p>"They don't seem to be doing anything out of the ordinary," Piper commented as she watched. "They're just talking."<p>

Edward made a swooping motion with his arms that ended with him slamming his fist into his open palm. Junko looked a little shocked by this.

"Edward slightly more enthusiastically than Junko," she said as she focused in more with the periscope.

"Can you tell what they're talking about?" asked Stork.

"Something violent," said Piper. "Edward's making punching motions… aaaaand he just fell over."

"Junko hit him?"

"No, he did it himself."

"Huh. Saved him the trouble."

Piper looked around at Stork, about to say something scolding, but then she stopped and stared.

"What're you doing?" she asked.

"Haven't you heard all the weird noises that've been coming from Junko's room for the past week?" asked the Merb as he fiddled with the screwdriver. "I'm betting he's moved from hoarding candy to animals. He always does seem to like those that are most prone to contagious diseases. So I'm building _this_ just in case he can't be persuaded."

"…a bug spray _gun?_" asked Piper in disbelief.

"Why would I build anything else?" Stork said proudly. "By the time this baby's done, she'll be able to spray half a can in a single shot!"

"But wouldn't that just cause you to run out faster?" asked Piper.

Stork scowled at her.

"It's just like you to see something I take pride in and find fault in it," he said flatly, "isn't it?"

"Sorry," said Piper, smiling nervously as she sat down on the couch next to him.

She looked back out through the windscreen. Edward had got back to his feet and had clearly said something that made Junko laugh, as the Wallop was sniggering into his hand. Edward still looked very enthusiastic about his storytelling, but it seemed the climax was over.

"I wonder what he is," she said idly.

"Who?" Stork asked in a dismissive tone.

"Edward," Piper replied. "Talking to him just now, I… how can I put this? I couldn't quite figure him out. I can't tell whether he's some hot-headed tough guy who's out of his depth or a scared kid who just wants to go home. His eyes, though… I don't think I've ever seen fear like that."

"What about that little incident last week?" asked Stork. "Finn looked pretty fearful to me."

"Wouldn't you be looking fearful if you'd somehow got your head stuck in your skimmer's wing?" Piper pointed out, and smiled fondly at the memory. "I am _so_ glad I got a photo of that."

She looked back at the short blonde again. The conversation between him and Junko seemed to have become far more casual, although Edward did still look rather wistful, as though he wanted to be anywhere but there. His smile hid it well enough for it to almost be beyond notice.

"There's definitely something strange about him," she said quietly. "Something almost alien."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he is an alien," Stork said casually. "As in, from a different planet. It's the only explanation I can think of for why his hair and eyes would _both_ be gold. Have you noticed that even his skin looks a little golden? It's… were he anything else I would believe it but for a human, it's just unnatural!"

"Maybe it has to do with his 'alchemy'," said Piper. "It is supposed to be converting metals into gold, after all… but how would that affect his pigment? It doesn't make sense!"

"_He_ doesn't make sense," said Stork. "Take a page out of my book, Piper: if something can't be explained, just roll with it. You'll feel much better."

Piper sighed and rested her brow on her hands.

There wasn't a lot she could do to argue with that.

* * *

><p>He kicked, his foot piercing the air like a knife.<p>

If anybody had been there, their nose would have been pounded inward, probably even inside out.

He swung his foot down to the ground before he lost his balance and slashed at the empty air with his energy blades, pulling in alternate directions like a Striker-powered pair of scissors, crossing his arms in front of his face, then reversed the motion and sliced his non-existent foe in half before spinning backwards and adopting a defensive stance.

Then he spun forward like an electric blue hurricane, releasing almost all of his energy in a blurred flurry of movement, stabbing and slashing and kicking and striking out with his elbows and knees, finishing crouched on one knee, leaning forward and supporting himself on one arm, pressing his knife into the floor and hoping it wouldn't leave a noticeable burn, although he was sure to create a far larger one in only a few seconds.

A light breeze blew down the runway, ruffling his already perpetually messy hair and chilling his ears.

He concentrated.

Somewhere, in the pit of his stomach, he could feel the power rising. It crackled like electricity, through his arms and into his chest, buzzing and burning, making him feel well and truly _alive_.

And then he released it, leaping into the air and throwing his arms out before him, the power rushing out of his body in a wave of blinding blue-white light, scorching a massive black mark along almost half the length of the runway before he landed as softly as a cat on his feet and straightened up.

He examined his handiwork.

'Crud,' he internally swore. 'Stork's gonna wring my neck if he sees this.'

So he walked over to the immense burn mark and, although it probably wasn't going to do any good, spat on the blackened surface and started rubbing it with his gloved fingers.

He enjoyed practising at this time of the day. It was like the night was almost here, but the daylight hadn't quite faded away yet, so it was somewhere in the middle.

Only he seemed to have spent a little longer out here than he usually did and it was getting cold. The sun had already set completely and the sky was becoming an interesting shade of purple, the stars already winking invitingly overhead as the moon peeked over the lowest cloud layers and bathed the far side of the Condor in cold white light, encasing what was visible from the runway in an angelic white glow.

Not that Aerrow noticed, as he was far too busy trying (and failing) to remove this huge scorch mark from the floor. He guessed it would probably wash away by the time the next rain rolled around, but he doubted Stork would care much about that when he saw the big black mark on the face of his precious ship.

What was with him, anyway? Why was he so obsessed with this ship? Exactly how long had he spent down there in the Wastelands with nobody to keep him company and nothing to distract him except lava worms, fire scorpions and who knew what other horrors that lurked down there.

In any case, they probably weren't going to find out any time soon.

He paused in his scrubbing and propped his body up on one hand to survey the cloudscape.

It was a fantastic view. He'd thought it was nice from Terra Neverlandis, but being able to travel – to have a different sight outside every night – there was a certain feeling of liberty to it. The sense that they could go anywhere, see anything, and go back there again the moment the new place got boring.

It was freedom, and he loved it.

He found his attention wandering to the railing that ran around the outside bridge and saw Edward standing there, so deep in conversation with Junko that it seemed neither had noticed his little solo sparring session.

Weird. He hadn't exactly been subtle about it.

What could they be talking about? Edward seemed very animated about it, tossing his hands around and making some rather odd gestures. Nothing too obscene, luckily. Junko was almost as enthused as he was, apparently bouncing on his heels in eagerness and sometimes even saying things – muffled by distance – in unison with the small blonde.

Aerrow smiled at the bizarre sight. Hopefully, if the alchemist (it still felt strange to think of him as such) started getting along better with the squadron, he wouldn't be so prone to lashing out and acting hostile. Maybe then they could make some progress towards getting him home like he so desperately seemed to want.

He sheathed his blades was about to go back to scrubbing when he heard Finn shout something that launched Edward into another rant, and the shorter boy had to be carried inside by presumably frightened Junko who seemed to have a little trouble retaining his grip.

Finn then came right up to the railing and leaned over.

"Yo Aerrow!" he shouted. "Food's ready! You gonna come in and eat or what?"

"Thanks!" Aerrow replied with a wave of his arm. "I'll be right up!"

As the marksman disappeared inside again, the Sky Knight gave the floor one last experimental squeak with his shoe before admitting defeat and going back into the ship.

He could only hope Stork wasn't _too_ harsh on him.

* * *

><p>Several hours later, the night had finally enveloped the Condor in darkness, but nowhere was darker than the small patch Edward was currently looking around.<p>

"It's not exactly five-star accommodation," he quipped.

"What do you expect?" asked Aerrow, who was leaning against the doorframe. "It's a storage closet. We do have a spare room, but we prefer to keep that on standby in case Starling ever comes round."

"Starling? Who's Starling?"

Aerrow couldn't help but stare in bemusement.

"I mean, uh, Starling?" said Edward as he realised his mistake. "Wow, tha-that's… that's a real honour, wow. You guys are lucky."

"Yeah," Aerrow said, trying his hardest to mask his suspicion, "sure."

Edward turned back to the wardrobe-sized room.

"Like I said, it's no resort," he said, "but I guess anything's better than the pile of tyres I slept in last night."

"You… wait, what?"

"What, you didn't think I actually had a house to stay in, did you? And before the tyres it was a doorstep, but a dog barked or something and I had to move. The tyres were more comfy anyway."

Now Aerrow was even more surprised and confused.

"But why did you even come to Terra Atmosia if you didn't have anywhere to stay?" he asked.

"I didn't go by choice," said Edward in a strangely subdued voice. "It's complicated, okay? And I don't really want to go into details right now."

He sat down against the wall, tucking his legs up against his chest.

"Yeah," he said, "this'll work. Guess I'll say good night, then."

Aerrow nodded.

"Sleep well," he said, and turned away.

Once he was safely on the other side of the closed door, he turned back and stared at its hard metal surface as if looking hard enough would allow him to see through it, to see the teenage boy now occupying the tiny space beyond that was no bigger than a shower.

The more Edward revealed about himself, the more lost he seemed, despite his somewhat aloof and casual attitude towards it. Piper had mentioned to him that there had been a moment when she was talking to him that he looked utterly terrified, but he'd pretended it had never happened. And now he'd quite happily stated how he'd slept in the street last night.

What was _with_ him?

It was like…

He really was just some scared kid trying to look tough!

Or was he? He'd quite easily had Aerrow on the ropes when they'd first met. So was he… or maybe…

Aerrow sighed in resignation to the fact that he probably wasn't going to work out anything new tonight.

He made a beeline for his bedroom.

* * *

><p>Finally alone again.<p>

Edward thumped the back of his head against the wall, hissing through his teeth as an attempt to rid himself of the burning jumble of emotions that seethed in his stomach.

The situation appeared to be looking up, but appearances could be deceiving and right now, trapped on a flying vessel with a bunch of strange people who almost treated him as if he was some sort of criminal, he felt more trapped than ever before.

This place wasn't helping either. He hadn't been kidding when he'd expressed his dissatisfaction with it: it was small and cramped to the point of being claustrophobic.

Still, he wasn't kidding about the tyres, either.

He stood up and pulled off his coat, having to feel his way up in the darkness, and then, after properly making sure that nobody was there to see him, he hugged it tightly to his chest.

To anybody else he would look silly and childish, treating a garment as though it was a teddy bear or something, but as far as Edward was concerned, this was more than just a coat. It was a symbol of his very nature – his attitudes, his temper, his strength – everything that separated him from the crowd and made him the Fullmetal Alchemist that everybody back home knew and loved.

He sniffed hard, noting with disdain how the scent of armour polish had all but vanished, and when he closed his eyes he felt a single tear trickle down his cheek.

"Al," he muttered, "I'm so sorry."

He sat down again with a face full of red fabric (not that he could see the colour, it being pitch black and all) and one of his hands wandered down to his waist, to his pants pocket, and he pressed his hand in with the intention of pulling out…

…what?

Where was it?

He withdrew his hand and patted his hip, mentally praying that he would feel the familiar bulge of his ID, but it wasn't there anymore. He must have dropped it back on that terra, that Atmosia place.

But where? When he was sleeping? When he was looking for a place to sleep? In the library? When he'd got into a fight with Flyboy? Or even when he was running from these people in the hopes that…

…_something_ would…

He couldn't think anymore. This place, these people, _everything_ was just too much. And now, even if he did get home, he would probably lose his job and all the grant money it had brought him because he'd lost his ID.

Except now, he'd lost the only hope for a means of getting home in the first place.

With no other options left, he pressed his face into the soft, thick, cushiony surface of his red coat and wept in a potent combination of rage, confusion and ever-growing despair.

* * *

><p>Aerrow held up the watch by its thin chain and idly gazed at its silvery sheen, noticing how it always caught the light and glinted brightly no matter which direction it spun in or how little light there actually was, and right now there was barely any light at all.<p>

At least, he thought it was a watch. He hadn't dared try to open it in case its owner would be able to tell when he got it back. Odds were he'd throw some kind of tantrum again if he knew someone was fiddling with his possessions.

Radarr leapt up onto the bed with a soft thump and eyed him and his shiny trophy curiously.

"Don't tell Edward I've got this," Aerrow said. "He'll probably go nuts if he knows I picked it up. You wanna look?"

The small blue creature nodded, and lifted up the silver object for a clearer view.

"At least, I'm guessing it belongs to Edward," said Aerrow. "I found it on the ground after our little scuffle at the beacon tower. He must've dropped it or it slipped out of his pocket or something. You recognise that crest?"

After examining the lion-snake insignia, Radarr shook his head.

"Yeah, me neither," said Aerrow. "Doesn't look like any insignia I've ever seen. Heck, I'm not even sure it's from Atmos. Pretty much all the crests I've seen are birds, even Cyclonia. Who'd use a lion-snake thing? It doesn't make sense. It doesn't even match the symbol that guy's got on his coat!"

He rolled onto his side, propping himself up on one elbow.

"And I know I could probably do some research myself or maybe ask Piper, but I'm pretty sure You Know Who would find out about it and he'll pound me to a pulp and stomp on what's left."

Confused, Radarr held up a paw with two fingers almost touching, as if giving an indication of size. Aerrow couldn't help but laugh.

"I know, I know," he said, "but don't tell him that, okay? He'll probably chew your ears off. And I don't just mean that as a figure of speech."

He took the watch back and laid it down on the box he used as a bedside table, and settled down as Radarr snuggled into his body.

"Seriously though," he said. "Where'd he really come from?"

Radarr shrugged.

"He's hiding something," said Aerrow. "It's almost like he's... I dunno. Piper said he looked afraid of something, that it's the same look in his eyes that Stork gets at the thought of the Condor getting damaged. I'm not too sure about that, but still…"

He closed his eyes and slumped down onto his pillow.

"He really should learn how to trust other people," he muttered as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>This chapter didn't take anywhere near as long as I'd expected, but it did take long enough for me to watch pretty much all of Slugterra, several episodes of Attack on Titan and a few eps of Dragon Booster AND read the entirety of AOT's manga (has anyone else read it? It's awesome!). I'm sorry it doesn't really have as much content as the previous chapters: I wanted to focus a bit more on characters rather than events here, and I think a bit of a slower chapter can do some good once in a while.<strong>

**It rather says something about me as a writer that I've already started on the sequel when I haven't even finished this yet. I did have quite a bit of fun writing Piper's rant about the aerodynamic properties of tools. I imagine it's the kind of thing she'd do, given the right circumstances.**

**I expect Ed would get along well with Junko because he's so similar to Alphonse (except not quite as smart). The story Ed was telling him, for those who didn't know, what the epic saga of how he bravely banished the _eeevil _Lieutenant Yoki from Youswell and saved all those suffering coal miners from his tyrannical rule of tyranny!**

**Yeah, that's totally how he would tell it.**

**Again, reviews are very much appreciated!**


	6. Chapter 6

_I'm running._

_So fast. Feels like I could fly. But I can't. I don't want to. I want to keep running. Keep moving. I have to keep moving. Don't know why. I just have to._

_I hear someone, somewhere. Calling my name. Screaming it out again and again. I look, but I don't see her._

_Her._

_It's a woman. Older than me. I can tell just by her voice. But I've never heard it before._

_Have I?_

_I must have. Somewhere. She sounds familiar. Calling for me. She's frightened. I have to find her. I have to help her somehow!_

"**Where are you going?"**

_Another voice. Never heard this one before. Eerie. Echoing. Resonating inside my head. Sounds like more than one person talking, even though I know it couldn't be._

"**The one you seek is beyond your help,"** _the stranger says, _**"or so it would seem to the unknowledgeable."**

_An eye opens up before me. Big. Sharp. Steely. Piercing._

"**Are you not curious? Do you not wish to bring her back?"**

_What's happening? What is this?_

"Aerrow!"

_I hear someone else. Closer. Younger. Saying my name._

_Where?_

_I see someone up ahead. A woman. Perhaps the one who was calling for me. I run towards her, shouting, trying to get her attention, tell her to move away from the eye because it isn't safe. It can't be safe._

"Aerrow, wake up!"

_Small, thin, tendril-like hands reach out for her and she opens her arms to accept them as they grasp her arms and legs and waist and lift her slowly into the air, and her clothes begin to smoke and her body starts to fade away as she turns to look at my face-_

"Aerrow!"

-as the shaking of his shoulder finally brought the Sky Knight back to the land of the living and he managed to crack his eyes open.

Piper sighed with relief.

"Thank goodness," she muttered. "You really should learn how to sleep more lightly."

"Piper?" Aerrow whispered, his voice quietened by exhaustion, the psychedelic dream already beginning to fade from his mind. "What's going on? Don't tell me we're under attack _again_."

"Ssh!" Piper hissed, and snapped a finger to her lips.

Concerned and now far more sober, Aerrow shifted his weight onto his elbow, careful not to disturb the still-sleeping Radarr.

"Okay, seriously," he said as quietly as he could without being completely silent, "what's wrong? What's the problem?"

"I'm not too sure," Piper admitted. "I was just going back after using the bathroom and I felt like I was being watched, and when I tried to look around I thought I saw something moving in the shadows!"

Aerrow thought this over (which was hard, as his mind was still a little fuzzy due to sleep).

"You sure it wasn't Stork?" he asked. "You know how he likes to go 'round making sure there aren't any animals on the ship that are smaller than Radarr. It's practically what keeps him going."

"That's true," said Piper, "but it can't have been Stork, because Stork doesn't have _glowing purple eyes!_"

He'd been about to settle down and go back to sleep, but upon hearing this further information, Aerrow sat bolt upright, fully awake and properly alarmed.

"Why didn't you say so?" he asked, and climbed out of bed. "Let's go check it out."

Awakened by the disturbance, Radarr cracked open one eye.

"Don't worry, Radarr," said Aerrow, and scratched behind the blue creature's ears. "It's nothing for you to be concerned about. Just go back to sleep, okay? I'll be right back."

Radarr eyed him with scepticism, but Aerrow departed all the same – picking up and pocketing the watch as an afterthought – with Piper by his side.

"Where did you see it?" he asked, making sure to keep his voice as low as possible.

"It was heading for the hangar bay," Piper whispered. "Aerrow, we can't fight if we don't have our weapons, but I don't see how we can get to them without passing that thing!"

"The hangar bay?" asked Aerrow. "Why would it be going there?"

Piper shrugged.

Aerrow stroked his chin in thought. What could this thing be after? More to the point, how were they going to get it off the ship without making too much of a mess? Maybe if they could get to one of Stork's many, _many _traps…

Wait.

"I have an idea," he said. "You know that big spring platform Stork installed on the bridge?"

"How could I forget?" asked Piper. "Let me guess: it's a part of this idea of yours?"

"Yes," said Aerrow. "Do you know which lever activates it?"

"Yeah. I've seen Stork using it enough times to have figured it out."

"Good. I'm gonna drive the intruder to the bridge and I want you to wait for my signal, but try to be quiet. It would be easiest if we kept this as discreet as possible, you understand? I'm counting on you."

Piper nodded.

"So no pressure?" she asked with a small smile.

"Knowing you, it's nothing you can't handle," Aerrow said as he smiled in return.

Piper let out a breath she didn't seem to know she had been holding.

"Okay," she said. "Don't get yourself hurt, alright?"

"Hey, it's me we're talking about," Aerrow replied. "I'll be fine."

With one final nod, Piper ran off in the direction of the bridge while Aerrow started tiptoeing down the corridor towards the hangar bay.

He hated this. He hated the thought of some unknown threat invading their home. What was it even doing here? What did it want? Had Cyclonis sent it or was it some kind of rogue?

That battle earlier… had that just been a diversion?

It was definitely possible. He had thought it suspicious that such a small force would show up so randomly. Was that just a show so this thing could slip on board unnoticed?

Yeah, that made sense.

But why? What did it want?

It wasn't going to get it, whatever it was.

He froze, flattened himself against the wall and held his breath.

It came towards him, creeping down the corridor on its hands and toes, obviously trying to keep quiet.

Then it stopped.

It stopped in front of the storage closet.

'What's it doing?' thought Aerrow. 'Is it… why would it be after Edward?'

The closet's door opened and the creature leaned in. As Aerrow approached, he heard the boy inside asking who it was, and he sounded frightened if not just plain alarmed at the intrusion.

He reached up and tapped the creep on the shoulder.

* * *

><p>"It's my fault Al has that body," Edward murmured in his sleep. "He can't eat, sleep, get hurt or feel…"<p>

He sniffed, not noticing or hearing the door opening.

"He blames me," he continued. "He definitely blames me!"

He fell silent, apparently listening to somebody talking who was only present inside his mind.

"I'm afraid to," he said quietly. "I'm too scared to ask… that's why I have to restore him as soon as possible…"

It was only then, when a dark shadow was looming over his body, that something in the back of his mind alerted him to danger and he cracked his eyes open to see what was going on.

"Wha…"

There was a face, almost right up against his, with glowing purple eyes under a dark-coloured hood and a grin that was even more terrifying in the dim light. Edward tried to shy away, but he was already in the corner and there was nowhere else for him to go.

"The hell are you grinning at?" he demanded, trying to sound intimidating despite his fear. "Get the hell away from me!"

He saw somebody behind the intruder tap on its shoulder, and it leaned back to see who it was before being punched out of sight. Edward got a brief glimpse of Aerrow's face before the door slid closed again.

He stared, stunned, at the blackness.

"What the _fuck_ was _**that?!**_" he cried.

* * *

><p>It took about half a second for Aerrow to regret punching the intruder, but it was quickly overridden when it straightened up and looked him dead in the eye.<p>

"What're you doing here?" he demanded. "What does your Master want with us this time? Is it Edward? Why would she want him?"

Rather than replying, the creature just charged at him. Aerrow slipped down to the ground, lying on his back and pulling his legs up to his chest, and when it landed on the soles of his feet he propelled it off, over his head and down the corridor, then scrambled up again and ran as fast as he could to the hangar bay, trying (and failing) to ignore the fact that he was being chased the whole way.

He jumped through the door, saw his energy blades lying by his skimmer where he'd left them and power-slid the last few feet before snatching them up and switching them on. He swiped at his attacker, knocking it back at least two feet, and kept up this assault until they were out the door and back in the corridor.

"Either you get out of here or I'm going to have to… uh…" Aerrow trailed off, his still-slightly-sleepy mind failing him in the search for threats. "W-well, it won't be anything good!"

The intruder raised its wrist-mounted crossbow and prepared to fire, and Aerrow brought forth his blades to defend himself from-

"Hey!"

Both of them looked up at the girl standing at the end of the corridor.

"Yeah, uh, hi," she said, smiling innocently. "Is it okay if I distract you for a moment and then you chase me all the way up to the bridge? Thanks!"

"PIPER!" Aerrow shouted, hoping he'd conveyed the right amount of annoyance as he followed the intruder, now chasing down the only female Storm Hawk.

"You really think I would've just waited there for you to bring the party to me?" Piper shouted down the corridor as she ran, cheerful despite the fact that she had an elite Cyclonian agent chasing her down. "You know I don't like being left out! Especially when one of _these_ is involved!"

"Well, unless you have a Solaris crystal on hand-"

"LET'S JUST DEAL WITH THIS THING ALREADY!"

Similar to Aerrow's power-slide, she dived through the door to the bridge and rolled to a halt, then sprang forward again as the intruder leapt to seize her. Aerrow fired shots from his energy blades into its back, but rather than dealing any sort of recognisable damage, all that seemed to do was annoy it.

He glanced over to Piper. She was in position.

Once again, he closed his eyes and concentrated, calling forth a veritable tsunami of power that seemed to always rest, dormant and maybe even waiting, somewhere in the depths of his soul, always there for him to access and use at times like this.

He felt it rush through his body like a bolt of lightning, reaching down through his arms and into his hands as it lifted him clear of the ground, and when he finally let it go, the blast of electric blue energy blasted the intruder right in the stomach, propelling it back into the centre of the huge insignia that was emblazoned upon the ground.

"Piper! NOW!" Aerrow cried once he'd touched down again.

Piper didn't even need the prompt. She jumped for the lever and slammed it down with all of her strength, and only a couple of seconds later the spring trap activated and the intruder was propelled out of the Condor by the most direct means possible.

Apparently giving up, it opened its wings and disappeared into the night.

"And DON'T come back!" Aerrow shouted, just to emphasise it even more.

"Considering the send-off we just gave, I don't think it's planning a return trip," said Piper.

"We _hope_," said Aerrow. "Knowing Master Cyclonis, it'll probably come back with a buttload of reinforcements. We should be on our guard just in case."

He sat down on the couch next to the strategy table.

"You go back to bed," he said. "I'll keep watch."

Piper couldn't help but stare, amazed at how quickly he seemed to be moving despite having awoken so recently. She wasn't one to complain – she'd always been a light sleeper – but given that it had only been a few minutes since he'd woken up, it was as if he'd been active for hours already.

"You sure you're gonna be okay?" she asked.

"I've got my weapons and I'm still buzzed from the fight," Aerrow replied. "If anything else swings by, I'll go straight to the intercom and wake everybody up. Though considering the noise we just made, I wouldn't be surprised if they're all awake already."

Piper sniggered to herself.

"It's no trouble if you want a little company," she pointed out.

"No, I'll be fine," said Aerrow, and he gave her a reassuring smile. "It's not like I'm gonna fall asleep after _that_."

Piper returned the smile.

"Okay then," she said. "I guess I'll see you in the morning."

She left the bridge.

Alone once more, Aerrow put his hands behind his head and leaned back against the couch, staring up at the ceiling.

'My life,' he concluded to himself, 'is _weird_.'

* * *

><p>As Piper was walking back to her room, her attention was caught by a strange sound from further down the corridor. A sort of high-pitched yowl, it was quickly followed by loud shushing.<p>

It sounded as if it was coming from Junko's room.

Just what in the world was he doing in there?!

Knowing Junko, it probably wasn't anything major or threatening (especially since Junko was the living embodiment of the exact opposite of threatening). So she returned to her room and paid no heed.

* * *

><p>Very carefully, as though his life depended on it, Radarr pushed the block out of place. Then he reached around to the other side of the tower and pulled it out.<p>

Aerrow closed his mouth and sniffed.

Thankfully, he didn't move much beyond that.

"Careful…" Junko whispered.

As slowly and steadily as he could, Radarr reached up and rested the block atop the tower. He squawked with delight and punched the air in celebration.

"Yes!" said Junko. "Okay, um…"

He chose a block near the top of the tower and was about to prise it out when Aerrow heaved a heavy sigh. Again, that was (luckily) all he did, and Junko very carefully pulled the block out and rested it atop its fellows.

"Okay, your turn," he said. "You were right, this is fun!"

He giggled to himself as Radarr reached up to take out another block, but their attention was turned by Stork walking into the room and freezing at the sight of them.

"Um…" he said awkwardly, "…what in Atmosia's name are you two doing?"

"We're playing jenga on Aerrow's face while he's asleep," Junko explained. "It was Radarr's idea. I was kinda nervous about at first, but knowing he could wake up any moment makes it way more intense. You wanna join?"

They smiled at him with eager expectation.

Stork shrugged.

"Sure," he said, "why not?"

He stood behind the couch, looking down at the tower of blocks, and reached for one near the middle with a block on either side. He gently pushed it out from between its fellows, reached around to the side of the tower and pulled the block free.

It was then that Piper entered, stifling a yawn.

"Morning guys," she said, and then caught sight of them. "Uh… what're you doing?"

Stork positioned his block on top of the tower, and then stood to the side so she could see.

"We are, quite obviously, playing jenga on Aerrow's face," he said, in a matter-of-fact tone that suggested this was an everyday occurrence.

"You wanna play?" Junko offered. "It's fun!"

She walked over to the windscreen, stretching her arms behind her head as the tense game resumed, and looked out at the clouds that were broiling in the sky around them.

"Looks like it's going to rain soon," she said. "When you're done treating our leader like a coffee table, Stork, I think we should find somewhere to hole up until it passes."

"Before we do," said Stork, watching as Radarr took his turn, "do you have any idea how my spring trap was activated in the middle of the night? I can tell from here that _somebody_ has been tampering with it."

Piper suddenly froze.

"Come on," Stork said, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes suspriciously. "I definitely heard something last night. What exactly were you and Aerrow doing?"

"Are you sure you weren't hearing noises coming from Junko's room again?" asked Piper.

"What're you talking about?!" Junko said suddenly. "There wasn't any noise coming from my room! Did you hear any noise coming from my room? I didn't hear any noise coming from my room because there wasn't any noise coming from my room!"

Stork, Piper and Radarr all stared at him, while Aerrow muttered something too quietly for any of them to make out.

Junko smiled and laughed nervously.

"The truth is," said Piper, "it would probably take a while to explain it all, and even then it's pretty hard to believe."

"Does it have something to do with Aerrow sleeping out here rather than in his room?" asked Stork.

Before Piper could reply, there was a loud _BANG_ from somewhere else in the ship.

"Huh?" said Aerrow, awakening suddenly. "Huh, what- who…"

He trailed off and stared at the wooden structure atop his face.

"Somebody wanna explain this to me?" he asked.

"In a moment," said Piper, and she left, presumably to investigate where the bang had come from.

Aerrow continued looking up at the tower.

"I fell asleep out here, didn't I?" he guessed.

"Looks that way," said Stork.

"And so you decided to play jenga on my head again?"

"It was Radarr's idea!" said Junko, pointing at the offending creature. "Let me-"

"No, wait," said Aerrow, holding a hand for the Wallop to stop. "I have _always _wanted to try this."

Very slowly, staring intently at the flimsy structure on his forehead, he pressed his body out of the seat and, holding out his hands for balance, straightened up to his full height. The tower wavered slightly, but didn't topple.

"_Whoa_…" muttered an awestruck Junko.

"I know, right?" Aerrow said excitedly as Radarr applauded. "Can't believe I actually did it! I've wanted to try this for ages, but I never thought I'd actually be able to pull it off!"

"Aerrow!"

He looked round to the door and scattered the blocks everywhere, much to Stork's dismay.

"I think your skills are required for this one," said Piper.

* * *

><p>"Why are you even treating me like this?!" Edward demanded. "WHAT THE HELL DID I EVER DO TO YOU?!"<p>

"Well, you did try to beat up one of my closest friends and teammates," said Finn, "and also you've been nothing but annoying ever since you came onto this ship."

"But those are things I did to other people!" Edward pointed out. "What did I do to YOU, you porcupine-headed crapwad?!"

"For starters, you call me names," said Finn, cocky smile growing wider as his fire was fuelled even more, "you're hanging around with us and we're ferrying you someplace but you're not really doing a whole lot to make up for it."

"That's because-"

"_AND_ you yell at everybody and make up stupid stuff about yourself and you keep refusing to tell us what this alchemy stuff actually is or where you even come from!"

"I didn't make any of that stuff up!" objected Edward. "I swear, I only tell lies when I really, really have to! I don't lie to people! Especially people who are younger than me!"

"But right now, you're yelling and screaming rather than trying to convince me," Finn said happily. "Just like a _little_ _kid_."

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING SO TINY HE COULD FALL OFF THIS SHIP AND GET BLOWN AWAY BY THE SLIGHTEST LITTLE GUST OF WIND BECAUSE HE'S SO SMALL HE WEIGHS PRACTICALLY NOTHING JUST LIKE A DANDELION SEED?!" Edward screamed, crashing and banging around his container. "LET ME OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW OR I'M GONNA MAKE YOU REGRET YOU SAID THAT!"

"Nope," said Finn.

"LET ME OUT!"

"Not gonna happen!"

"LET ME OUT OR I'LL TRANSMUTE THE DOOR AND-"

"Ah-ah-ah!" said Finn. "Stork won't be very happy if he finds out you changed part of his precious ship!"

"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT-"

"I heard they still haven't found the last guy who did that. They did find the guy before him though. Or at least, what was left of him after they pulled all the owls and rats away."

There was no reply.

"You're bluffing," said Edward.

"Am I?" asked Finn.

"You are! You're bluffing!"

"You know, I might be. But then again, for all you know, I might _not_ be. For all you know, every word I speak is the truth and-"

"Finn, what's going on?" asked Aerrow as he approached from down the corridor. "What's all the noise about?"

Finn's smug smile somehow grew even wider.

"_Weeeeeeell_," he said, "I noticed when I got up that our guest didn't seem to have come out yet."

"If this is what the guest accommodation is like, I'd hate to see the club activities!" yelled Edward.

"So I decided to have a little bit of fun," said Finn, ignoring the outcry as he proudly held up a key, swinging it around his finger by its ring.

Edward thumped on the other side of the door.

"There is NOTHING FUN ABOUT THIS!" he shrieked.

"Finn," Piper said in exasperation, "_seriously?!_"

"You really think that was such a good idea?" asked Aerrow. "He's probably going nuts in there."

"I AM WAY PAST NUTS!" shouted Edward. "I MOVED PAST NUTS AGES AGO! I'M GONNA BE _BERRIES_ BY THE TIME I GET OUT OF HERE!"

"That doesn't even make any sense!" said Finn.

"WHATEVER!" Edward responded.

"Finn, just let him out," said Piper.

"Even if you weren't locking people in storage closets," said Aerrow, "didn't you agree to take care of breakfast this morning?"

"I know but-"

"He seems to think you're immature and stupid," Piper said, "and Finn, by doing this, all you're doing is proving him right."

"But…" Finn said weakly.

Aerrow and Piper raised their eyebrows. They looked almost like stern teachers lecturing a naughty student.

Finn sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Fine," he said, and he tossed the key to Aerrow before walking away in the direction of the kitchen.

The two left behind shared a glance, and Radarr arrived and leapt up onto Aerrow's shoulder as he approached the door.

"Edward, I'm going to open this door," he said, raising the key to the lock. "I don't want any trouble-"

"JUST LET ME THE HELL OUT ALREADY!" the enraged alchemist screamed.

Aerrow quickly thrust the key into the lock, twisted it and jumped back as a black and gold mass of a person jumped out and landed on his face. His red coat flew up and over him and settled over his head.

He pointed a finger towards the ceiling.

"If anybody makes a 'coming out of the closet' joke," he said, "I will not be held responsible for my actions."

"I wasn't going to," said Aerrow.

"But we can if you want one," said Piper.

Edward lifted his coat aside and glared at them both.

"You need some help?" asked Aerrow, reaching down.

"No, don't bother," said Edward, and slapped his hand aside. "I can take care of myself."

"Hey, guys!" yelled Finn in the distance. "How d'you feel about pancakes?"

"Pancakes?!" cried Aerrow eagerly, and he turned and dashed away so fast that Radarr lost his grip and fell off his shoulder.

"Seriously?" said Piper, and she followed soon after. "I didn't even know we had enough stuff for pancakes! _Awesome!_"

"Did someone say pancakes?!" Junko yelled from the bridge, and this was quickly followed by him thundering down the corridor and forcing Edward and Radarr to duck in fright.

"I was going to request something non-sweet that wouldn't attract potentially disease-carrying bugs," said Stork as he too walked down the corridor, ignoring the pair on the floor, "but _pancakes_ you say?"

Edward and Radarr both stared down the corridor.

"You know, I almost get the feeling you guys really like pancakes," said Edward.

Radarr nodded enthusiastically.

"Judging by the state this ship is in and the fact that everybody on it looks like they're borderline anorexic," Edward continued, "I'm guessing you don't really get the opportunity for home-made pancakes very often."

The blue creature nodded again, this time not quite so happily.

"Ah well," said Edward, climbing to his knees. "Nothing much you can do about it, I guess."

Radarr leapt forward and grabbed his arm with the aim of helping him up, but was quickly shaken off.

Once he was on one knee, Edward paused.

"Can you keep a secret?" he asked. "I'm assuming you can, since you can't talk and all, but…"

Radarr stared at him with an eyebrow raised to express his puzzlement.

"I just have to tell somebody, alright?" said Edward, beginning to sound desperate. "If I don't let somebody know, if it stays like this and I have to keep it bottled up for the whole time I'm here, I'm gonna lose my shit, alright? I'm gonna lose it and somebody, probably somebody on this ship, is gonna get hurt. You have to promise you'll keep my secret, alright?"

For a moment, Radarr just stared at him, slack-jawed, but quickly composed himself and saluted with a smile clearly intended to convey trustworthiness of some kind.

Edward released a breath he hadn't realised he had been holding.

"Okay," he said, "here goes."

He tugged the glove off his right hand and pulled his jacket sleeve up to above his elbow, and presented his forearm for the blue creature to see.

Seconds ticked by while Radarr stared at it, stunned speechless (or at least he would be if he was capable of speech). Eventually he narrowed his eyes and leaned in for a closer look.

"You can touch it if you want," said Edward. "Not like it hurts or anything. Just try not to leave a mark: if my mechanic finds out this got dirty or damaged, she'll scalp me."

Radarr gave him another confused glare.

"That's what she's like! She's a beast!" Edward said, smiling all the same.

He pulled his sleeve down and donned his glove as he straightened up, and picked his coat up off the floor as an afterthought.

"So then," he said, "can you keep my secret?"

Radarr saluted again, smiling with pride.

"Thanks," said Edward, and the two of them started heading for the kitchen.

Now that he thought about it, the notion of pancakes was pretty damn appealing.

* * *

><p><strong>And here I thought school holidays would give me more time to write. I don't know why but lately I've been feeling really tired and washed out, and not really up to writing very much. Once the next chapter's up, I'll probably put the one after it up as well, seeing as I've literally written entire chapters of this already of parts of the story we're not up to yet.<strong>

**I'm looking forward to seeing everybody's reactions to the ending I have planned.**

**Man, am I sadistic.**

**But I start school again next week, so I'll have even less time for writing than I already had... :(**

**Reviews are very much appreciated!**


	7. Chapter 7

"Master…"

He leant down in one knee, possibly feeling the weight of her presence upon his shoulders, dreading the ruthless punishment that was sure to soon be unleashed upon him.

She glared at him out of the corner of her deep, soulless eyes.

"Let me guess," she said, her voice dangerously quiet, "you failed to capture the alchemist?"

"I was cast out by the Storm Hawks," he reported, not daring to cast his incandescent violet gaze upon her face. "I can confirm that the one with the power you seek is currently among them. He is not receiving any guard and could easily be taken."

"And yet," said the Master, "you return to me, presenting this information while simultaneously declaring your failure."

She turned to face him, her hands glowing with brilliant red energy which she used to lift him clear of the ground and throw his body through the doors like the useless ragdoll she now knew him to be.

"Pathetic," she muttered, and returned to her work.

"Master," said the third person in the room, "if I may speak?"

"Go ahead," she said without looking up.

"With all due respect, Master Cyclonis," he said, walking forward out of the shadows, the dim light glinting in his scarlet eyes, "allow me to apprehend this 'alchemist' you seek. I will annihilate the Storm Hawks and have him bowing to you before this day is out!"

"Patience, Dark Ace," said Master Cyclonis, unfurling a scroll on her desk. "The mere confirmation that there is indeed a person in Atmos who possesses this knowledge is all that I need for the moment. And once he realises that I have what he desires…"

She traced her fingers over an image of an elderly bearded man in a long white robe, reaching up towards a smooth, glowing, shimmering red crystal, an expression of awestruck wonder upon his wrinkled face.

"…it will only be a matter of time before he walks right into my grasp."

* * *

><p>The Condor pulled up under the cliff and the grappling hooks latched onto the rocky underside of the terra, just as the surrounding clouds began to unleash their cold, wet weaponry upon anything that dared to be outside.<p>

"With the weather like this, there's no way we'll be able to make any real progress," Piper explained to Edward, who was standing in front of the windscreen glaring out at the thick grey clouds. "We're gonna have to wait here until the rain stops."

"So long as we don't get washed into an abyss, I'm fine with it," said Edward.

Stork started stroking his chin in thought. He was, in all likelihood, trying to calculate the probability of them being washed into an abyss at some point in the near future.

"Let's hope that doesn't happen, okay?" said Aerrow and Stork lowered his hand, disappointed.

"Can you guys all be quiet?" asked Finn. "You'll ruin my focus!"

He carefully stood another two of the jenga blocks on their narrowest sides and rested another across them like a bridge.

"By the time this is done, it is gonna look so _sweet!_" he squeaked.

Radarr jumped onto the table and watched as the bizarrely excited marksman added a second arch to his little construction.

"What is he doing?" Edward whispered hoarsely.

"He gets like this when he's particularly bored," Stork explained.

"Sometimes this'll happen when he's cleaning floors," said Piper as Finn tried to shoo Radarr away. "He ties sponges to his feet and skates around on them like he's on ice. Sometimes he'll bat the soap around with his mop."

"And you just let him?" Edward asked in confusion.

"No," said Aerrow. "We join in! Do you have any idea how awesome it is? I mean, we do end up leaving these big gaps where none of us have actually skated, but that doesn't stop it from being totally fun!"

"Yeah! Remember how last time I hit the soap out onto the runway and we just kept playing out there?" Piper chimed in. "I'm just disappointed that that Junko hit it right off the ship. That's the third bar this month!"

"Hey," said Edward, "come to think of it, where is that guy? Do people on this ship just disappear at random?"

"I can confirm that this isn't the case," Stork said calmly. "If it was, I wouldn't have to keep fishing owls out of my traps."

"He's most likely in his room," Piper suggested. "I'll bet he's reorganising his scrap collection into alphabetical order or polishing his knuckle-busters or something like that."

Edward nodded in understanding, and then leaned right back over the railing until he could see, upside down, the slate grey sky on the other side of the windscreen. The downpour was so dense that he couldn't even see the other parts of the terra, despite having full knowledge of their existence. He knew that if he dared to step outside he would be soaked to the bone in seconds.

"Any idea when this rain's gonna let up?" he asked. "Hate to say, but I'm already getting a bit impatient."

"It usually takes a few hours," Aerrow explained.

Edward groaned in discontent and flipped upright again.

"I'm not sharing, if that's what you want!" Finn called from his position at the table as he began construction of a second ring. "This is a one man project! You can beg and plead all you want, but I'm not sharing!"

He shot another annoyed glare at the approaching Radarr, who quickly snapped back up with his paws behind his back and whistled innocently.

'How is he whistling?' Edward found himself thinking. 'I thought only creatures with lips were able to whistle!'

"Has anybody got a pencil or something I can borrow?" he asked.

Without asking any questions, Piper reached up into her spiky hair.

"Here," she said, and presented the baffled alchemist with a short pencil. "I always keep one on hand in case I need it."

"Thanks," said Edward, not really knowing what else he could say as he took it from her fingers.

"You keep pencils in your hair?!" asked an equally confused Aerrow as Edward made his way over to the strategy table and its surrounding couch.

"It's as good a place as any," Piper replied with a shrug.

Edward sat down, ignoring the incensed and ever-watchful eyes of Finn, and pulled a small black book out of his pocket. He flicked to an empty page and, once he had found one, started to write.

_Finally found some people who could help me. They don't trust me much, which is something I've come to expect, but as long as they try to get me home I don't give a damn._

_Should make note of them, I guess._

He looked up and around, making sure nobody was trying to see what he was writing, then went straight back to it.

_Leader's name is Aerrow (hoping I spelt that right). He's a nice guy, but it's too good to be true. I'm betting he's actually a real asshole and just doesn't let anybody know. That's how these people usually are from my experience._

_Hard to believe he's only 14 when he's so much taller than me (not that I'm short because I'm not). Seems to be good in combat._

_Wondering if he's figured out what I've done…_

_Another called Finn. Real bastard, but apparently a good shot with a crossbow. Doesn't like me very much for some reason. Isn't the brightest star in the sky, but he's suspicious of me. It's pretty obvious._

_Hoping he doesn't find out too much about me. Don't even want to imagine the shitstorm I could unleash by telling these people the truth about me and my homeland._

_Only girl of the group is called Piper. Seems smart and perceptive, but not suspicious of me, which is good. From what I can tell, she's the nerd of the group and probably one of the most responsible too._

_Reminds me way too much of Winry. Makes me want to see Winry again._

_Never really thought I'd miss her this much._

_Rather nice guy named Junko. Apparently one of a race of rhino people (chimeras?) called Wallops. Weirdly literal. Looks like a talking mountain on legs, but he's friendly. Childish, even. Doesn't really question me very much._

_Rather like Al, really. A bit too much. Very discomforting._

_Eldest one named Stork. Twenty-year-old hanging around with 14-year-olds (?). Paranoid and possible hypochondriac. Obsessed with this ship, the Condor. Have no idea what he's supposed to be (frog man? Lizard man? Definitely some kind of humanoid reptile, but with mammalian ears)_

_Considering referring to him as Green Mustang._

_Thing called Radarr. No idea what he is and nobody else seems to know either. Have revealed one of my secrets to him because he can't talk and won't be able to blab to anyone. Seems especially close with Aerrow (pet?)_

_I don't dare tell them too much about myself because I'm worried about how they might react. They already know much more than I planned on revealing to them (had to use alchemy in a fight) and who knows what they'll say if they find out the truth about where I'm from._

_I know I'll need to tell them what I really want. I'm just not ready to yet._

He sighed.

_I hate having to lie to people like this._

"…_rrrrrrRRAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOooooowww!_"

Every single person (and non-person) on the bridge suddenly looked up as the bizarre noise resounded around the ship.

"Uh," said Finn, "do I even wanna know what that was?"

"Considering last night," said Aerrow, "I think we should go check it out."

They all leapt to their feet and ran in search of the source of the noise.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Junko was in the midst of a panic.<p>

"You guys, you have to keep quiet!" he whispered hoarsely. "I keep telling you, you can't make so much noise or they're gonna find you! And then you won't be able to stay here anymore! And then we'll all be sad!"

They didn't listen. One of them yowled in his face and another started hissing.

"I'm sorry, I wish I could bring you out more, but I can't!" Junko insisted. "I'm gonna be in so much trouble if-"

He froze, his pointed ears twitching.

"Someone's coming!" he said, and shoved the contents of his locker back inside. "Now stay quiet or you'll be found!"

He closed the locker and stood straight up with his hands clasped behind his back, and started to whistle as innocently as he could as the door opened.

"Junko, what's going on in here?" Aerrow asked as he leaned against the door frame with a rather serious expression.

"What's going on?" asked Junko. "Nothing's going on! Why would anything be going on?"

"Why would any- dude!" Finn said from his position just behind Aerrow. "We've been hearing super suspicious noises coming from your room for the past week!"

"Longer if you count the weekend," said Piper, who was next to Finn.

"You know," said Edward, who was leaning against the other side of the door frame, "if I didn't know any better, I'd say it was the exact same noise an annoyed cat makes when it's stuck inside a metal container and isn't very happy about it."

Junko stared at him in horror.

"And… _how_ would you know what that sounds like?" asked Finn.

"Is that important?" Edward replied.

"Junko," said Aerrow as he entered the room properly, "you're not stashing candy in there anymore, are you?"

The Wallop bowed his head in shame.

"So are you going to open that locker and show us all what you've been hiding?"

"C'mon, buddy," said Finn. "Should've known this was gonna happen eventually."

Junko glanced at his locker.

"Okay," he said quietly, looking as though his whole world had just come to an end.

He reached back and groped for the handle and, when he found it, he pulled the locker open and stepped aside.

The rest of the Storm Hawks and the alchemist who accompanied them jumped back in shock as a mass of fur, yowls and needle-sharp claws exploded out of the small metal space and spilled out all over the floor. Aerrow almost fell over from the force of it all.

"What the- cats?!" he said in disbelief. "Junko, you've been hoarding _cats?!_"

"I keep finding them around all the different terras!" Junko argued. "Some of them were just sitting by the side of the road or out in the rain and I couldn't just leave them out there. They could have got sick or hurt by somebody's ride! And what if a dog found them? What would happen then?"

The small furry creatures picked themselves up and looked around. Three of them sat right back down and started washing themselves, two of them leapt up onto Junko's shoulders, one jumped into Aerrow's arms, another two tried to leave the room and one started climbing up Edward's coat, which didn't seem to bother him much.

"But some of them might have owners already," Piper pointed out. "Didn't you think about that?"

"But they were so cute, I didn't stop to think!" said Junko.

Edward leaned back and peered down the corridor.

"You not coming down here, Stork?" he called.

"Oh yes, I'll just go strolling on down there!" Stork yelled back. "After all, it's only cats! Scratching, fur-shedding, allergy-inducing cats!"

Radarr jumped up onto Aerrow's shoulder and tried to shoo away the cat he was holding. The feline hissed at him, but Radarr hissed right back.

"Um, Edward?" Piper said, pointing at the short blonde's arm.

When Edward looked, he saw the cat hanging off him, digging its claws into his right forearm.

"Ouch!" he yelled, and shook it off. "You little bastard!"

'"Ouch"?' Aerrow thought as the disgruntled creature started stretching. "Who the heck actually says "ouch" when they get hurt?'

"Anyways," he said, turning back to his largest friend, "I'm sorry Junko, but these little guys have gotta go back where they came from."

"What? No!" cried Junko. "I'm sure they don't have any diseases and none of them have fleas, I checked! They definitely don't have ticks either! And they're so small and scared and-"

"And they'll probably feel better being back home than they would being stuck on this old ship," Aerrow pointed out. "As soon as we're able to move again, we're going terra to terra putting these animals back where they belong. No exceptions. I want them all cleared out by the end of the week."

Junko's eyes widened, making him look almost like a forlorn puppy, and his bottom lip started trembling, but Aerrow's expression didn't change in the slightest.

The Wallop sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

"Okay," he said quietly. "But can I keep them in here until we can get them home?"

"Sounds fair to me," said Aerrow, and he put down the cat he had been holding.

"Why would you even want a bunch of cats anyway?" asked Finn. "Is the awesomeness of the Finnster just not enough for you?"

Edward and Piper scoffed, and the marksman eyed them sourly.

"C'mon, guys," said Aerrow as he walked out of the room, "let's leave Junko to organise his… collection."

They walked out of the room and left Junko to herd his cats.

"Stork," Piper called as she and Finn headed back towards the bridge, "are you really allergic to cats or are you just saying that?"

"Oh, I'm allergic alright!" Stork declared dramatically. "I first found out when I was but a Merbling of eight years old: I stroked just _one_ small kitten and suddenly, before I knew it, my tongue had swollen to the size of a sky slug!"

"Dude, you're not supposed to lick them," said Finn.

"I DIDN'T LICK IT!" cried Stork.

Aerrow stared down the corridor at the spectacle.

"That was quite a show you put on, Flyboy."

He and Radarr turned to look at the alchemist who was leaning against the wall with his hands behind his head.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "What show?"

"I've been assuming you were something of a pushover," Edward explained. "Looking at you just now, I thought you were gonna let him keep them all, or at least one. Never thought you had it in you to be stern."

Aerrow couldn't help but stare. Was that actual praise or…?

"I'm, uh… I'm gonna take that as a compliment," he decided. "I didn't know you had _that_ in you."

"Yeah, well," said Edward as he straightened up, "you may have noticed by now that I'm kind of a serious guy.":

He gave Aerrow a friendly nudge.

And that was all it took to dislodge the shiny watch from the Sky Knight's pocket.

It fell, almost as if in slow motion, to the hard metal ground. Aerrow, Radarr and Edward watched as it collided with the floor, bounced…

…and rested there with its back cover having fallen off.

Revealing, on the inside, preventing the gears from turning, a miniscule luminescent shard of electric blue.

A lifetime could have come and gone as the three stood staring at it: Aerrow and Radarr in shock, Edward in confusion and horror.

Finally Radarr jumped down and pulled out the glowing blue shard, and he passed it to the redhead, who held it up for the alchemist to see.

"Any idea how _this_ got in there?" he asked.

Edward seemed to have stopped breathing.

"…_shit…_" he gasped.

He shoved Aerrow aside and pelted down the corridor.

"Radarr! Tail him!" Aerrow commanded, and as his furry companion ran after Edward, he turned and hurried back to the bridge.

He jumped through the doors before they had even finished opening.

"EDWARD'S THE THIEF!" he yelled.

"Huh?!" Stork and Piper exclaimed.

"What?" said Finn, looking up from his reconstruction of Jengahenge.

"Edward," Aerrow repeated. "He's the guy that stole that piece of the Aurora Stone. Presumably also the one who gave me this cut on my cheek. And right now he's probably trying to find a way off this ship because he's just been outed."

He held up the sliver of crystal.

"No way," muttered Finn in what could have been shock, but could easily have been satisfaction.

"And I was dumb enough to go and show him around this ship!" said Aerrow, slapping his forehead.

"He's probably headed for the hangar bay," said Piper. "And if he is, I'm betting he's hoping to steal one of our vehicles. Aerrow, you might be able to catch him if you hurry!"

"What about you guys?" asked Aerrow as he turned back to the door.

"Oh, we have our own little tactics," said Stork, and with a sinister grin he pulled a speaking tube to mouth level.

* * *

><p>Well, <em>shit<em>.

That was all that was going through Edward's mind as he ran as fast as his legs could carry him through the twists and turns of this seemingly endless ship.

He had blown it. Completely blown it. How could he have been so mind-numbingly stupid as to not be able to hold onto his watch when it contained his key to getting home?

He knew he should be grateful. Thankful that one of these people had been courteous enough to pick it up and hold onto it. It wasn't anywhere near as lost as he had feared and, if anything, it had come as a massive relief to see it again, even in these circumstances.

But then it had come open. Revealing his treachery.

And these didn't seem like the kind of people who would let him get off easily.

His attention was caught by a harsh buzz and he slowed to a halt.

"You're not getting away…" the eerie voice of the helmsman echoed throughout the ship. "There's nowhere you can run to and nowhere you can hide. So it might better for you if you just turn yourself in."

"There's no way I'd be dumb enough to do that!" Edward shouted. "You're never gonna take me alive!"

His yell was met with silence.

Had they heard him?

"That," said the voice of Stork, "is _completely_ acceptable."

Edward stared at the ceiling in confusion as a strange _clunk_ emanated from within.

Then, before he had any chance to react, a boot on a long hinged pole swung down and hit him on the backside, throwing him screaming the rest of the way down the corridor and into the wall, which he crashed into face first, slowly peeled off like a banana skin and fell heavily to the ground.

"Ow…" he moaned.

"There's plenty more where that came from!" said Piper through the ship's intercom. "Really it would be best if you just turned yourself in and let the folks on Terra Atmosia decide what to do with you."

"Like HELL I'm gonna do that!" Edward bellowed furiously.

He was about to jump to his feet when Radarr leapt onto his chest and glowered down at him.

"What're you glaring at?" demanded Edward accusingly. "Are you calling me short even without saying anything?!"

Even if Radarr could talk, he probably wouldn't have responded.

"Look, I never meant for anybody to get hurt, alright?" said Edward. "All I wanted – all I still want – is just to go home! I've got people waiting for me there who are relying on me, understand?"

For a split second, Radarr's expression was almost one of sympathy, but then he seemed to remember something and lunged forward, and bit down hard on Edward's left shoulder, causing the alchemist to cry out in pain.

"You son of a BITCH!" he cried, and pulled back his fist to punch him off-

-when, out of nowhere, his right hand was suddenly sealed to the floor by a globule of bright green slime.

"What the…" he muttered in shock.

"You have _no_ idea how much I've wanted to fire a slimer crystal out of this thing," said the voice of Finn, coupled with approaching footsteps. "And I honestly can't think of a better use for it than to stick it to ya."

His work done, Radarr bounded away – probably in search of Aerrow – as Finn stood smiling over his prey and aimed his crossbow right at his face.

"How 'bout I fire the next one in that ugly little face of yours?" he asked.

"How many times do I have to say it?!" said Edward. "I Don't. Like. Being. Called. LITTLE!"

His next few movements took him only a few seconds: he rolled onto his side so that his right hand would be in front of his chest and pressed his hands together, and Finn had to jump backwards as the alchemist thrust a razor-sharp icicle up into the air, just barely missing his face. He took as step back as Edward climbed to his feet, brandishing the two-foot-long stick of ice like a sword.

"Where did you…" Finn said weakly.

"You don't know much about composition, do you?" Edward asked smugly. "That slime you stuck me down with was mostly water. All I did was isolate and remove the H²O using alchemy and from there it was just a matter of manipulating its form and temperature. It's transmutation 101."

He brought the icicle up, clearly preparing to charge.

"And now," he said, "you're gonna find out what happens to people who call me _LITTLE!_"

Finn brought up his crossbow and tried to fire, but Edward smashed the weapon aside with his icicle, shattering the wet blade in the process. He used what was left like a club, whacking the hapless marksman upside the head, and he dropped his crossbow and fell to his knees, clutching his cranium.

A small trickle of blood leaked out from under his fingers as he looked fearfully up at the furious alchemist who now seemed to tower over him like no Cyclonian ever could.

"How does it feel to be the small one?" Edward snarled. "How does it feel to be little, to have people looking down on you as if you're a bug? YOU DON'T LIKE IT, DO YOU?!"

He raised his hands again to press together and Finn tried to shuffle backwards across the floor.

A bolt of bright blue energy suddenly hit Edward in the chest, throwing him backwards again, but this time he managed to keep his footing.

He looked up at the equally angry Sky Knight who was standing at the far end of the corridor.

"Don't you even _think_ about touching him," he quietly growled.

Instead of retaliating, Edward ran in another direction, disappearing from sight.

Aerrow lowered his energy blade and strode, with purpose, down the corridor.

"Finn," he said, "did he hurt you?"

"No, not too bad," said Finn. "I'll be okay-"

"Then go and get yourself patched up," said Aerrow. "I'll deal with Edward."

* * *

><p>Edward didn't stop running until he came to the hangar bay.<p>

A cold draught disturbed his hair once he finally reached it and looked around at all the vehicles that stood there, as if they were waiting for him to jump on one and take it for a ride.

'But I don't know how to drive those things,' he realised. 'I don't even know how they work!'

"Edward?"

He looked up at the sound of Junko's voice over the intercom.

"Listen, I'm not sure what's going on," he said, "but if you just come back I'm sure we can figure everything out. You don't have to run!"

"Yes I do!" Edward shouted back. "I don't have any other choice!"

"No, that's not true!" replied Junko, as apparently this intercom worked both ways. "You can come back and we can talk about it! We can- oh my gosh, Finn! Are you okay?!"

Edward's fists clenched in rage.

"WHY ARE YOU PRETENDING YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME?!" he bellowed, possibly at the Storm Hawks, but there was an equal possibility of it being directed at the world in general. "YOU DON'T KNOW _ANYTHING_ ABOUT ME!"

"So tell us."

He jumped back in fright as Aerrow appeared behind him.

"And you've just made it clear you're willing to hurt us to get what you want," said Aerrow, tightening his grip on his energy blades. "So I'd recommend you give it up before I'm forced to take you down for good."

Edward didn't move.

Was he thinking?

Then, in a flash, he was running right at the hangar bay doors.

"Edward, wait! Stop!" cried Aerrow, and started to run after him.

The alchemist jumped into the air and pressed his hands together. When he rested them on the door, the metal unfurled like a flower, allowing him access to the outside world and the now-horizontal rain that blew across the runway.

As Aerrow watched, he ran down almost the entire length before sliding to a halt right at the end and looking over the edge.

The Sky Knight climbed through the hole after him and walked carefully down the runway. He didn't move much besides the flapping around of his coat and wild flailing of his braid.

"Face it, Edward," said Aerrow. "There isn't anywhere you can run to."

Edward still didn't move.

Then, slowly, he turned around, his face contorted into an angry scowl. He strode towards Aerrow, raising his hands, getting ready to transmute again-

-and stopped.

Mere metres from the Sky Knight, eyes showing that he was deep in thought.

Finally, he sighed and allowed his head to bow, and lifted his hands to the sides of his head in surrender.

* * *

><p><strong>This is a part that I was genuinely looking forward to writing. Not just the chase scene, but the reveal of Junko hoarding cats in his room. It seemed like too cute an idea not to include and you wanna know something? I might even have it come into play later on in the story...<strong>

**So yeah, the cat's out of the bag in both the literal and figurative sense.**

**I actually have the whole of the next chapter already written, but I'm going to upload it later today on account of having to go and get an education (or at least try to when the talkative shits in my classes allow me to).**

**Reviews are welcome and very much appreciated!**


	8. Chapter 8

He sat against the wall, forehead resting on his interlocked fingers, and hoped to hell that all this tooth-grinding wouldn't wear his molars down to useless nubs. It was the only thing on his mind besides the ever-growing tsunami of soul-crushing despair that rose over his mental horizon like the darkest of moons.

His anger was such as he had never felt before: partly directed at those who had locked him in this storage closet but mostly at himself for being such an incompetent, irrational, imbecilic IDIOT.

And he knew. He knew it would be easy to escape by just transmuting the door. But he had literally nowhere else to go. Nowhere. At. _All_. And if anything, it was that thought which was the most crushing.

He didn't look up when the door opened. It didn't do much to brighten his situation. Literally, as it would appear night had fallen during his incarceration.

"Should've known better than to think you were trustworthy," he heard Aerrow say. "I knew there was something familiar about the guy who cut my cheek."

"What does that have to do with anything?" he muttered.

"If you can steal one of the most powerful crystals ever discovered without any assistance, why would you ask for our help?" asked the Sky Knight. "Although I guess it explains why you were so bitter and secretive."

"It's not just that," Edward growled through gritted teeth.

"Then what else is there?" Aerrow asked.

Edward clenched his fists.

"I can't tell you," he growled. "You wouldn't believe me if I did."

"Try me," said Aerrow.

"I can't!" Edward repeated, and sounded more desperate than he had before. "I can't tell anybody! And I know you wouldn't get it, you're so wrapped up in being some tall, tough goody-two-shoes that you wouldn't even care!"

"I said try me!" Aerrow said, more firmly this time. "If it's really so-"

"I NEED that thing!" Edward cried, jumping to his feet. "I need to use it because without it I won't be able to get a Philosopher's Stone!"

"What- why do you want a-"

"It's the only chance I have at-"

"Just slow down!" Aerrow raised his hands defensively. "So you want a Philosopher's Stone? While that does explain why you'd want a piece of the Aurora Stone, why do you need one of those? We're not even sure if they're real or not!"

"Well- I- but- they have to be!" Edward almost yelled. "They're the only chance I have!"

"At what?!"

"I CAN'T TELL YOU!"

"WHY NOT?!"

"I JUST _CAN'T!_"

By now the boys were almost right in each other's faces, fists clenched, each trying to hold back from punching the other in the face.

"Can you at least tell me why-" Aerrow started, but he was quickly interrupted.

"And you don't care, do you?!" By now Edward seemed to have stopped listening. "You couldn't give the slightest of damns! You don't even care tha-that I've got people waiting for me back home who're going to have no goddamn idea what happened to me or where I went, but I guess that's all my fault for not mentioning it sooner 'coz I'm such a _fucking_ idiot-"

"If you could just-"

"I mean sure, I tracked down the house just like Mustang told me to, no thanks to him, stupid bastard couldn't give me the actual address of course, which means there isn't any way for Al to know that I'm not still on that _fucking_ mission-"

"Who's-"

"But you don't even give a damn that I'm probably never going to see the only family I have left ever again or that thanks to you it's likely that I've lost any chance we _ever_ had at getting back to normal!"

"How can I care when I don't even know what you're talking about?!" Aerrow demanded. "Who is Al? Who is Mustang? And what do you mean by 'getting back to normal'?"

Edward looked like he was about to explode.

"You wanna know why I'm so desperate to get home?" he asked, opening the clasp on his black jacket. "You really wanna know why I need a Philosopher's Stone so much?!"

"Well yes, actually!" Aerrow responded.

With no further hesitation, Edward pulled off his jacket.

"_**THIS IS WHY!**_" he bellowed, and pointed at his right shoulder.

When Aerrow looked, almost all thought flew out of his mental window.

This boy, he had... but he was only... and he had... but earlier, he'd... how could... _how_...

The anger in Edward's face faded, and was replaced with disbelief at the level of his own rage, which then faded to desperation and childlike fear.

"Please," he said, sounding like he could burst into tears at any moment. "I need. To get. Home."

Aerrow could only stare in stunned disbelief.

* * *

><p>"Just say it," said the exasperated Stork.<p>

"Nope!" Finn said happily. "Not gonna say it."

"Could you just say it already?" asked Piper. "You're really beginning to get on my nerves. More than you usually do."

"I'm not gonna say it!" Finn repeated, grinning like a madman. "You won't learn your lesson if I say it, so I'm not gonna say it! If you wanna stay the same, I'll blab it out, but if you wanna get the message-"

"Come on, Finn!" Junko said. "Even I'm starting to get annoyed."

Finn cast him a look down his nose, and then sighed.

"_Oooooooooookay_," he said, drawing out the 'o' for as long as possible. He coughed, cleared his throat, flexed his lips a few times, took a deep breath and announced in a loud, clear voice:

"I told you so!"

Everybody else on the bridge grimaced in distaste.

"I told you, didn't I?" he asked, and had probably never looked or sounded so self-satisfied in his whole life. "I told you we probably shouldn't trust that kid, but you didn't listen, did you? Should've paid attention! Should've noticed there was something up with him, like I did! I tried to warn you, and you didn't listen, so it's your own fault if-"

"You've made your point," said Piper, "now I suggest you stop before Radarr makes another one. In your eye."

Finn looked to the side, at the blue creature that was perched on his shoulder, glaring at him.

"Good boy," he said nervously. Radarr hissed angrily and he recoiled in fright.

"I guess it explains why he was so angry all the time," said Piper. "He probably thought we were going to arrest him or something."

"Which literally just happened," said Finn.

"But why would he wanna steal the Aurora Stone?" asked Junko. "And why would he only take one piece? Wouldn't it be better to take them all?"

"Well, only one of those shards has the same amount of power as the complete stone had," Piper explained.

"My guess is he's working for Cyclonis," Finn said. "He's got the right colour clothing, all black and red and stuff-"

"Except when was the last time you saw a Talon with a long blonde braid?" asked Stork. "Or one so small he could ride into battle on the back of a squirrel? I doubt any kind of sane military organisation would allow..."

He trailed off as the door opened and Aerrow entered, with Edward following close behind, his black jacket open, his face downcast and frowning. Aerrow's expression was similar, except he didn't look anywhere near as depressed.

"What is he doing out here?" asked Finn moodily.

"He has a name," said Aerrow.

"Okay then," Finn said as he stood up, "what is _Edward_ doing out here?"

The Sky Knight looked down at the alchemist, who took a step forward and rubbed his upper right arm. He somehow looked smaller than he usually did.

He was _nervous_.

"I owe all of you an explanation," he said, and sounded strangely quiet due to being devoid of his usual temper. "An apology too. I should've known better than to act so irrationally, especially when you were already willing to help me. I'm sorry."

Nobody was quite sure how to respond. Edward looked up, fear shining in his golden eyes.

"I mean it!" he said. "Really, I do! W-why isn't anybody saying anything?"

"What do you want us to say?" asked Finn.

"Finn, that's enough," said Piper, and she walked a little closer to the short blonde. "So you're sorry, are you? Then why did you steal the piece of the Aurora Stone?"

Edward looked up at Aerrow.

"He needs a Philosopher's Stone," said the redhead.

"A _what?!_" cried the others.

"That ultra-powerful artificial crystal that may or may not exist?" Junko exclaimed. "Why do you want one of those?"

"I knew it," said Finn. "You are a Cyclonian spy, aren't you?"

"I'm not, I swear!" Edward shouted.

"Well then, what are you?" Stork demanded. "An alien? It would explain a lot of things if you were!"

"No, I'm human!" Edward insisted. "At least, I..."

He looked to Aerrow again, now clearly on the precipice of abject panic.

"Show it," the Sky Knight said.

"Huh? But-"

"You already showed me, didn't you? Didn't have any problems with that. Just show it."

After a moment of hesitation, Edward sighed. He slipped his left arm out of the jacket, revealing the black vest underneath, but hesitated when it came time to slip it off his right shoulder. His fist clenched, he gulped in fear, and then he pulled both the jacket and the white glove off.

Those who were still sitting got to their feet and approached. Even Stork stepped away from the helm to get a better look.

There was a metal socket fused to the teenage boy's shoulder, surrounded by dark scars, with one screw implying that it was bolted to his skeleton, but what was really intriguing was the mechanism attached to the socket. It was an arrangement of metal plates, gears and who knows what else - there were wires visible at his 'armpit' and rods that could very well be substitutes for bone - all of this in place of a human limb.

Without saying a word, Edward lifted up his left trouser leg, revealing a similar construction.

"What I said about my body," he said, "I lied. The armour doesn't support my arm and leg - it _is_ my arm and leg."

He held out his artificial arm and flexed the fingers a few times in demonstration.

"Can I see that?" asked Stork, and without waiting for a reply he took the hand and started moving it around, staring in amazement.

"Back home, we call it automail," Edward explained as Junko also had a look. "It's quite common if you can afford more than a simple prosthetic. Pretty much every town has at least one mechanic who specialises in it."

"Wow," Junko muttered as he examined the limb, "this is unbelievable! What is this, steel? Can you feel anything with this?"

"While it functions like a normal arm, there's not much sensation," Edward said blankly. "I can touch stuff, but I can't feel temperatures. Or pain. Hey, get off!"

He shook off Radarr, who had been trying to pull off his shoe to get a better look at his foot, and the blue creature gave him a glare of reproach.

"This doesn't explain why you need a Philosopher's Stone, though," said Finn.

"Actually, it kinda does," said Piper, who was looking at Edward's shoulder. "You could use it to get your limbs back, couldn't you?"

"Yeah, but it's not just for me," said Edward, and he pulled the jacket back on. "It's for Alphonse as well. He's getting back to normal before I do and in my opinion he deserves it more."

"Wait, who's Alphonse?" asked Junko, looking up from the metal fingers. "You've never mentioned anybody called Alphonse."

"He's... he's my brother," said Edward. "My little brother."

All eyes turned back to him in shock and curiosity. He'd never mentioned a brother before, much less a younger one. And if he had to get back to normal too, that meant…

"And what happened to him?" asked Aerrow.

Edward withdrew his hand and pulled his jacket on.

"You all might want to get comfortable," he said. "If I'm starting from the beginning, it's probably going to take a while..."

* * *

><p>"I guess," Edward began as he rested his hands on the table, "if I'm starting from scratch, I should probably mention Hohenheim."<p>

"Hohenheim?" said Aerrow.

"Al and I... he's our father," explained Edward. "I don't remember much about him other than that he spent a whole lot of time studying, going over all these books and notes about alchemy. He left home when I was about two and a half, so me and Alphonse were free to teach ourselves basic alchemy with his books and when Mom found out, she told us we were gonna be great alchemists just like our dad when we grew up. That was all the encouragement we needed to build our lives around the stuff, and we wanted to make her proud of us. She was our whole world. And then..."

"Then what?" Finn prompted.

"Then..." Edward spoke slowly. "In the summer, when I was five - Al was four - there was an epidemic. People all over the country got sick and Mom... she... she didn't make it."

The Storm Hawks were surprised, but not exactly shocked. They understood. They could relate.

"What about your father?" Aerrow asked.

"What about him?" Edward said bitterly. "No-one knows where he went or where he is right now. Bastard didn't even come to Mom's funeral. He could be dead too for all I know. I guess we were lucky: Resembool's the kind of small town where everybody knows everybody else from birth, so me and Al were never exactly fending for ourselves. Granny Rockbell was always willing to cook for us, and we've been friends with her gear freak granddaughter Winry for about our whole lives. They're actually the ones who fitted me with the arm and leg I've got right now."

He rubbed his forearm, eyeing the mechanics fondly with a faint smile.

"And one evening, when we were visiting Mom's grave, I had this idea."

He lowered his arm, smile fading.

"Theoretically," he said, "using alchemy, wouldn't it be possible to create a person? Or even bring one back to life?"

He paused, as if worried about continuing.

"So- wait," Junko spoke up, probably just to break the silence. "You tried to bring your mom back to life?!"

"I get why you'd want a Philosopher's Stone for that," said Piper, "but what does that have to do with your prosthetics?"

Edward hesitated, taking this in.

"I'll get to that," he said simply. "Anyway, it took years for me and Al to find someone who could teach us more about alchemy. When we did, we didn't say what we wanted to learn it for, but she taught us all the same. And eventually, after we went home again and researched some more, we finally felt ready."

He pulled his little black book from his pocket and leaned back, reading aloud from it.

"Water, 35 litres," he recited. "Carbon, 20 kilograms; ammonia, 4 litres; lime, 1.5 kilograms; phosphorous, 800 grams; salt, 250 grams; saltpetre, 100 grams; sulphur, 80 grams; fluorine, 7.5 grams; iron, 5 grams; silicon, 3 grams. And trace amounts of 15 other elements."

He closed the book with a snap.

"That's the chemical make-up of the average adult," he said, "and it turns out all that stuff can be bought with an 11-year-old's pocket money. Humans are pretty damn cheap when you think about it."

He put the book away.

"So we got all that stuff together," he said, "drew up a transmutation circle and just like that, we were ready. We were gonna see our mom again and we were so excited! But then..."

He rested his hand on his knee...

"We started the transmutation and everything went wrong at once."

...and tightened his grip.

"I remember it like it was yesterday," he stated, "Light from transmutations is always blue, and it was when we started but then it turned purple and these black- these long thin hands started coming out of the edge and swirling around, this huge eye opened up in the centre and all the materials evaporated into it, and then I heard Al start screaming and-"

By now his whole body was trembling like a leaf.

"-and when I looked, the hands were touching him and disintegrating him. My little brother's body was breaking apart, right in front of my eyes! And he was reaching for me and calling for me but I couldn't help because those hands started pulling my leg apart and I couldn't get to him and his hand dissolved before I could reach him and all I could hear was just his voice, screaming, and he was so scared..."

His hands tightened even further. Nobody was sure whether to try to help him or not.

"...and then... then it all changed. I was in this-this void, it was completely empty, and behind me there was this great big gate floating in mid-air, and this... this thing, a thing that looked like me, except... I don't know how to put it... empty, I guess. An empty version of me, and it said it was 'Truth' and then the gate behind me opened a-and..."

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He still hadn't stopped shaking.

"...and more black hands pulled me in," he continued, "and then I was falling, and as I fell, things poured into my head - images, information, knowledge, whatever you want to call it - and there was so much, too much, I felt like my head was going to burst from the strain, and I thought I saw Mom up ahead and I reached for her, I wanted her to help me because there was so much going on and I was so scared and I thought I was going to die-!"

"Edward-"

"I'm FINE!"

He slapped Aerrow's hand away and then stared in shock, eyes now wide with terror. It seemed to take a moment for him to realise what he'd done and when he did, he finally started breathing steadily and calmed down.

"I'm fine," he repeated. "I-it's okay, I'm fine, I'll be fine."

"You sure about that?" asked Finn. "'Coz you looked like you were about to scream."

Edward ignored this remark.

"Then it stopped," he said, "and I was back in front of the gate, but I knew there was something in there. There was something I missed when we were planning the transmutation and I wanted to see it all again, so I asked that Truth guy to let me back in and it told me that I couldn't go through again with the payment I'd given, and before I could do anything about it, my left leg was just _gone._ I mean, I know the price of knowledge is high, but... and then I was back in the house, leg missing, in more pain than I ever thought could be possible. It was horrible - all I could do was cry for Mom to help me-"

"And did she?" asked Junko hopefully.

Edward bowed his head.

"Whatever that _thing_ was," he said, "whatever Al and I made... it didn't live very long. Thankfully."

"You mean you went through all of that and it didn't even work?" Finn asked. "No wonder you're so moody all the time! No offence."

The alchemist didn't respond.

"So I shouted for Alphonse," he continued, "but he wasn't there anymore. I'd lost my leg to Truth; he'd lost his entire body. I was barely even thinking - I pulled down this massive suit of armour that was in the corner, drew a seal on the inside of the collar in my blood and... and the next thing I remember, I was in the Rockbell's house: no arm, no leg, and my little brother was nothing but a soul in a suit of armour, paid for with my right arm."

He rubbed his automail socket.

"A few days later, a guy from the military came calling. Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang. He'd heard about me and Al and he suggested that I enlist as a State Alchemist, 'coz of the funding and privileges they get, and I could look for a way to get our bodies back to normal. Didn't take me long to make up my mind about it. I got Winry and Granny to fit me with automail and passed the exams when I'd healed up. It usually takes three years to recover from the surgery, but I had to do it in only one because..."

He finally looked back at his audience.

"That's why I need the Philosopher's Stone," he said. "Because my little brother, who's no older than any of you, is stuck in a body made entirely of steel: he can't eat, he can't sleep, he can't even feel warmth or cold. Because the one thing I need right now more than anything is to get home and let him know that the only family he has left is still alive!"

As it had been before, nobody knew what to say at first.

"You flew too close to the sun," Aerrow muttered, recalling the very first words he'd ever heard the boy say.

Edward nodded.

"Me and Al," he said, "we're not bad people. What we did was taboo, I know – probably the biggest sin any alchemist could ever commit – but we never meant to hurt anybody. We're sorry. We just wanted to see our mom's smile… just one last time..."

With that, he got up and walked out of the room.

He left silence in his wake.

"Well," Stork said eventually, "that was officially the most depressing story I've ever heard in my whole life."

"Wow," said Finn. "Coming from you, that means a _lot_."

"Was he telling the truth, though?" Piper asked. "How do we know we can trust him?"

"But who would make up something like that?" Junko pointed out. "And anyway, I know we have fake arms and legs here in Atmos, but we don't have anything that good. Even I know that! And if he's making it all up then how come he can still do that alchemy stuff?"

Radarr nodded in agreement, holding up the little metal model of him as though it were the undeniable proof of all the secrets of the universe.

"Aerrow," Piper said, looking to their leader, "what do you think?"

Aerrow hesitated. He hadn't moved much since Edward had slapped his hand away.

"Even if it wasn't true," he said, "even if there isn't any Alphonse or Roy Mustang or Resembool, it's pretty clear that he went through _something_. Did you see how he was shaking? He was like a bomb about to explode. And how would he be able to do the things he can if he was lying?"

He got to his feet.

"Even if he was making it up, it's still obvious anyway he needs help, and it looks like we're the only people he trusts for it," he said. "So we'll put it to a vote. Show of hands, who thinks we should help him out?"

He raised his hand, as did Piper, Junko and Stork. Radarr raised his paw and, after a Look from Piper, Finn put his hand up too.

"Then it's decided," said Aerrow. "As annoying as it may be, he seems to trust me more than any of you, so I'll be the one to let him know."

He yawned.

"And I'll probably go to bed after that," he added, "so I guess I'll see you in the morning."

He received several variations of 'good night' in reply before he disappeared through the door.

"I'm still trying to find reasons to hate that shorty," said Finn, "but right now, I can't help but feel sorry for him. I didn't think it was possible for anyone to shake that much without falling apart."

"That poor guy," Piper said, and she looked over at the door the alchemist had disappeared through. "I hope everything works out for him in the end."

* * *

><p>Aerrow eventually found Edward in the hangar bay, having apparently fixed the hole in the door and now sitting against the wall with his knees pulled up to his chest and an expression of frustrated brooding on his face, ignoring the ever-present cold draught. He didn't seem to notice the entrance, something the Sky Knight had become used to.<p>

"We've decided," he said, "we're gonna help you."

Surprisingly, Edward actually looked up at him.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Aerrow. "Even if you were lying (which I actually kinda doubt) it's clear you went through something nasty, so don't worry. We're gonna get you a Philosopher's Stone somehow."

Edward looked away, as if afraid to look him in the eye.

"I don't deserve it," he said, "but thank you."

Aerrow turned to leave.

"It all happened so quickly," Edward spoke up, prompting the red head to stay in the room a little longer. "Mustang called me in 'coz he had a mission for me. I was supposed to investigate a string of disappearances in a slum not far from Central City, which started when an alchemist appeared there who they'd been keeping an eye on for quite a while. Said he was a potential candidate for the State Alchemist program, so I was interested because I wanted to know what this guy was like if I could be working with him in the future."

Aerrow didn't like standing over him, so he sat down next to him, careful not to get uncomfortably close.

"I did track it down, no thanks to Mustang," he continued. "Bastard couldn't be bothered to give me the exact address, so I had to ask around to find the right place, but no-one there wanted to talk to me because they thought the military wanted to kick 'em all out. There was nobody home when I eventually found the house, or at least, that's what I thought. I guess I was wrong again, wasn't I?"

He paused, waiting for a response, and kept going when there wasn't one.

"The place was a mess when I got there. There was this big open area in the middle of the main room, papers all over the place but empty aside from that, and this desk that was covered in books and diagrams and transmutation circles. Like I said, I didn't think there was anyone home, but as I was getting ready to leave, a transmutation circle activated on the floor. It must've been painted in a different shade of brown or something, 'coz I didn't see it when I first went in. I saw the guy at the edge and I tried to get to him, but before I knew it I was falling and I saw that gate go past me and the next thing I knew, I was in an alley in a city in a world I didn't recognise in the slightest. Took me a whole week just to find that fucking library!"

To Aerrow's surprise, a smile appeared on the blonde's face.

"I didn't even tell Al what the mission was or how long I would be."

He looked up, and Aerrow was even more surprised when he saw the tears trickling down from the boy's formerly fearsome eyes.

"Some big brother, huh?" he said.

It took a few moments for Aerrow to figure out what he could say to not make the situation any worse than it already was.

"Sorry I walked out like that," said Edward. "Having to tell it all, having to bring it all back… it-it's never fun."

"You speak like you've completely committed yourself to Alphonse," said Aerrow. "Forgive me, but that doesn't sound like a bad brother. I wish I had somebody who cared for me that much."

"You've got your squad," said Edward. "You all seem more like a family than anything else."

"Yeah," Aerrow said with a smile, "I guess we are."

"…lucky bastard."

Aerrow didn't know whether he should be glad or worried that the insult didn't bother him, but at the same time, his concern for the alchemist grew when he heard a small, quiet sob.

"It's all my fault," Edward moaned, his voice cracking from the strain of holding back tears. "Alphonse… I might as well have killed him, just like I killed our mom all over again. I was the one who got us into alchemy. I was the one who suggested we try to bring Mom back. I was the one who got drew the transmutation circle, so why did I only lose my leg when he lost everything? The world's supposed to operate according to Equivalent Exchange! I don't get it! It's not _fair!_"

By now Aerrow realised there wasn't very much he could do except watch the meltdown.

"I'm the big brother," sobbed Edward. "I'm supposed to keep him safe. I'm so _useless_. And now… it's pretty damn possible that I'll never see him again… and he'll never know what happened to me… or where I went…"

He wiped his face on his sleeve in a futile effort to clean himself up.

"So get back to him," said Aerrow, trying to seem encouraging. "Get that Philosopher's Stone and get your bodies back to the way they were. The Storm Hawks are more than capable of seeing you home, so don't worry about that."

He put a hand on Edward's shoulder, hoping to comfort him some more, and the blonde looked up at him and sniffed.

"Trust me," he said. "Everything's gonna be okay."

Edward sniffed again. He'd probably never looked so vulnerable in his life.

"And now I'm burdening you," he said.

"No, you're not-"

"I'm so sorry."

"Come here, you idiot…"

He didn't put up any resistance as Aerrow pulled him into a tight hug and let him cry into his shoulder, not caring about how wet his shirt was getting or how much Edward was shaking with his sobs and hiccoughs.

"I'm sorry," he kept saying. "I'm so sorry!"

"It's gonna be okay," Aerrow said quietly. "I promise. You'll be okay."

Until now, he'd never realised a single person could sound so wretched.

"_Carry on, my wayward son_

_There'll be peace when you are done_

_Lay your weary head to rest_

_Don't you cry no more…_"

He didn't know where the lullaby had come from, just that it seemed to bring him comfort, and right now Edward needed that more than anything.

But even that didn't seem to be enough, as minutes trickled by and the broken boy's despair-riddled cries continued to echo into the darkness.

* * *

><p><strong>Uploading from my school library because it turns out our drama teacher isn't here today.<strong>

**I know I'm probably going to sound like a sadist when I say this, but I think this chapter is my personal favourite. Writing is one of the few things I actually have a talent for and I've become rather good at dramatic, emotional scenes like the one above. I'm far better at conveying a fictional character's emotions than I am at showing them myself, especially when it's a character that I really like and Edward Elric is one of my all-time favourites.**

**Fans of Fullmetal Alchemist probably skimmed over most of Ed's story, but one thing I've noticed is that we've never actually heard it being told from Ed's perspective. We've had flashbacks, sure, and we've seen the aftermath of him telling it, but I've noticed we never properly see him recounting those events. It's probably because we already know it, so there's not much point in telling it again, but it's something that I can't help being curious about.**

**Expect the next few chapters to go up a lot quicker, because I've already written most of them out of a desire to get them out of my head before I forget them.**

**Reviews are very much appreciated!**


	9. Chapter 9

Piper stood in the doorway, peering around the frame into the hangar beyond and not moving a muscle. When Radarr caught sight of her, he scampered over and leapt onto her shoulder, causing her to yelp in shock.

"Radarr, don't do that!" she whispered.

He was about to ask what she was looking at (or at least make the appropriate noises) when she held a finger to her lips. When he saw the spectacle that had her so fascinated, he had to clap a paw over his mouth to keep from snickering.

"Go get a camera," Piper muttered to him. "Stay quiet, but go get a camera! We have to get a photo of this!"

Radarr saluted and departed in search of the required device.

He ran past Junko, who looking questioningly up at Piper.

"Piper?" he said. "What's-"

"Ssh!" Piper responded. "Come over here, you have to see this!"

Curiosity rising even more, Junko hurried over to see what the fuss was about, and had to shove his fist in his mouth to keep from laughing.

Aerrow and Edward were sitting against the wall - Edward's head resting on Aerrow's shoulder, Aerrow leaning on Edward's head - and both were in as deep a sleep as could be possible. It didn't help that Aerrow had his arm around Edward's shoulders, or that Edward's hand was moving up his body and slightly lifting his shirt, revealing a little of his bare stomach.

Piper's shoulders were shaking in silent laughter.

"Are you gonna get a picture?" Junko asked as loudly as he dared.

"Yeah, I just sent Radarr to go get a camera," said Piper. "This is one of the best things I've ever seen in my life!"

"What is?" asked Finn as he came upon the scene.

He was promptly shushed by Junko and Piper, and when he caught sight of the sleeping pair he almost choked.

"I know, right?" said Junko.

"Priceless!" Finn gasped. "Just... just priceless!"

At that moment Radarr returned, and he held up the camera looking proud as punch. With a little encouragement from the watching trio, he moved to sit in front of the slumbering duo and snapped a photograph, then held up the little square with triumph.

"Lemme take one!" Finn took the camera and knelt down. "I wanna get a close up! Something like this NEEDS a close up!"

He took a second photo. It was a miracle they hadn't woken up yet.

"Do you think we should wake them up?" asked Junko.

Radarr shook his head, as did Piper.

"Oh, come on!" Finn objected. "Won't it be so much funnier if they wake up at the same time?"

"Yeah, but they'll go nuts!" Junko pointed out.

"If you wanna be the one who wakes them, go right ahead," said Piper, "but make sure we can get to a safe distance first, okay?"

Radarr quickly ran out of the room and Junko followed suit. Finn rapped loudly on the wall as he left, but Piper lingered to watch the fireworks.

The two boys slowly and sleepily opened their eyes, looked around in a daze of fading exhaustion-

-and saw each other.

They were launched into a state of full sobriety and leapt apart with twin screams of shock and fright.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Edward shouted. "You seriously let me fall asleep on you?!"

"Well, _sorry!_" Aerrow shouted back. "I thought you might have needed a friend so-"

"Yeah, but you're a person, not a mattress!"

"What does that even mean? Why're you getting so worked up over this?"

"Sorry, but I'm just a bit weirded out at the thought of sleeping on top of somebody!"

"And maybe I'm weirded out at the thought of somebody sleeping on me! Did you stop to consider that?"

Piper couldn't contain herself anymore. She burst out into fits of laughter, and the two boys paused in their yelling to stare at her.

"What's so funny?" asked Aerrow.

"You haven't noticed?" Piper exclaimed. "Are you sure you two aren't twins who were separated at birth? It's like you're the same person!"

"WE ARE _NOTHING_ ALIKE!" Aerrow and Edward screamed.

Unfortunately this only made her laugh harder, her giggles echoing down the corridor as she walked away.

Aerrow sighed in annoyance.

"They're never gonna let me forget that," he groaned. "I bet Finn's gonna stick a photo of us sleeping on his wall."

"I'm just hoping word of this doesn't get to Colonel Mustang," said Edward as he stood up. "He'll just mock me for it like he does my height."

"I thought you said he was a Lieutenant Colonel?"

"He was. Some moron thought he needed a promotion. Don't see why. He's an asshole."

Aerrow almost laughed as he got up too.

"He must be a real jerk if you still can't stop complaining about him," he said.

"You have _no_ idea," said Edward, and he left the hangar with the Sky Knight following closely.

They walked down the corridor in awkward silence, trying hard not to look each other in the eye.

"So…" Aerrow said slowly, "are… you… feeling better?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah," Edward replied. "I hadn't realised how much I was holding in. Feels kinda good to have let it out."

"I'll bet," said Aerrow.

The silence returned.

"Thank you," Edward said.

"For what?" asked Aerrow.

"You were right," explained Edward. "I did need a friend. Sometimes I really hate being by myself and that was… thanks. For being there."

"Well, I guess I should be thanking you too."

"Really? What for?"

"It was you, wasn't it?" said Aerrow. "That night when you stole that piece of the Aurora Stone. You transmuted the ground when I was about to fall. I mean, if it wasn't for you I probably wouldn't have been there in the first place, but at the same time… thanks."

Edward smiled quietly to himself.

"It's nothing," he said. "I couldn't just let a guy fall to his death. Especially when you hadn't done anything but try to catch a thief."

"Does that mean I can start calling you Ed?" Aerrow asked expectantly.

"Don't start getting ahead of yourself, Flyboy," Edward said haughtily. "You and I aren't that close yet. You've still gotta get me home, remember?"

"Oh! About that," Aerrow said as he suddenly recalled, and he pulled the watch out of his pocket and held it out. "I think this belongs to you."

"Holy crap, thanks!" Edward took it and cradled it like it was the most precious object in existence. "I thought I'd lost this! A-and since I was keeping that piece of the crystal in there, I kinda-"

"Yeah, I figured," said Aerrow, and he held up the glowing shard for the alchemist to see. "I think I'm gonna hang onto this for the time being. Does that watch really mean so much to you?"

"It's my ID," said Edward. "One of these is issued to every State Alchemist. If I'd lost this, I'd be massive trouble. Probably get sent to see the Fuhrer and get my ear chewed off."

He clapped his hands and transmuted the end of the watch's chain into a ring that hung off his belt, attaching the timepiece to his body for good.

"That should prevent that from happening," he said, and tucked the watch into his pocket with the chain hanging out. "Thanks for keeping it safe."

"No problem," said Aerrow.

They continued walking. Now the silence just felt unnatural.

"You're not gonna tell anyone what happened last night when you get home, are you?" Aerrow asked.

"If I were to omit anything, it would be that," Edward stated. "I doubt Alphonse or the Colonel would ever let me live it down, and god forbid if Winry ever found out. She'd never shut up about it!"

Aerrow raised an eyebrow and smiled mischievously.

"Would she get jealous?" he asked.

"Huh?" Edward was plainly confused. "No, I don't think so."

"You make it sound like you must be pretty close to her."

"Well yeah, I guess. We've known each other since before we could even crawl. I've been managing so far, but I'm not totally sure how I'd get by without her."

"Oh, _really?_"

Edward shot a look of shock at the triumphant Sky Knight, having only just caught on to what he was talking about.

"NONONONONONONO it's _not like that!_" he insisted, waving his arms wildly. "I mean yeah, we've known each other since we were little kids but she's like family to me and even if I did have feelings like that for her WHICH I TOTALLY DON'T it's not like I would actually act on them! We're too close and I wouldn't wanna risk screwing up our friendship! So it's NOT like that with me and her! It's _NOT_."

"For somebody who's insisting so strongly," said Aerrow, smug enough to sicken a snake, "you sure do sound pretty desperate."

Edward growled in rage.

Then he pressed his hands to his ears and started muttering. Aerrow had to lean in close to hear what he was saying:

"…_helium lithium beryllium boron carbon nitrogen oxygen fluorine neon sodium magnesium aluminium silicon phosphorus sulphur chlorine argon-_"

"Did I break you or something?"

The alchemist yelped and leapt about a foot into the air.

When he realised what was going on (mostly by the Sky Knight's satisfied smirk) he groaned in annoyance.

"Let's just get this whole thing over with," he said as they continued onward. "The sooner I get back to Amestris, the better!"

* * *

><p>"Okay, no contest," said Finn as he looked over the photos. "These are definitely the most quality photographs we will <em>ever<em> have on this ship. Seriously, this is even better than all those sweet pics of me."

"Wow," said Piper, genuinely surprised. "You mean there's actually something out there that makes a better photo than 'the Finnster'?"

"The only thing even on the same level as a photo _of _the Finnster is a photo _by _the Finnster," said Finn, pointing at himself with his thumbs. "Trust me: I've got some of the best eyes in all the Atmos. I know what it takes to get a good shot."

The doors slid open and Aerrow and Edward entered the room.

"Morning, sleepyheads!" Piper said teasingly.

"Have a good night last night?" Finn asked with an obnoxious grin.

"What actually happened?" asked Junko. "Did you really just fall asleep on each other?"

"My guess is that Aerrow was trying to comfort Edward and just decided not to leave him alone," said Stork. "I'm only guessing that by the fact that Edward's eyes are red and puffed up as though he cried himself to sleep."

Edward gently felt the skin around his eyes.

"There's no point in denying it, is there?" he asked.

"I guess not, but let's move on," said Aerrow. "Gather 'round, Storm Hawks."

The rest of the group crowded around the strategy table as he and Edward took their seats.

"What Edward explained last night is a game-changer," said Aerrow, "and on that note, I think we all owe him an apology. We haven't been fair to him and we should all know better than that by now."

"You're right," Piper said. "I'm sorry we locked you up like that, Edward. I feel like this all could've been avoided if we'd just asked you more questions-"

"That's my fault," Edward interrupted. "You all seem like good people. It was me who was in the wrong for not trusting you. I mean, you might have made me sleep in a storage closet, but at least I got off the street. And before I got here I hadn't eaten properly in over a week, so… so thank you."

He seemed happy to have finally said that out loud.

"I'm not apologising," said Finn with crossed arms.

"Finn-" Junko started.

"No, I'm not," Finn said. "I don't have anything to say sorry for. I was suspicious of you and that was justified since you were the thief who almost got my friend killed. I'm not apologising."

"Not even for all the times you called him 'little' or some variation?" asked Piper.

Finn narrowed his eyes at her.

"Yeah, I guess I was kind of a jerk," he admitted.

"And seeing as that's probably the best we're going to get out of him," said Stork, "I'd recommend we move forward."

"Good idea," said Aerrow. "So Edward, how about you tell us the truth about Amestris? Because I'm guessing you were lying about that too."

"Yeah, there's no point in hiding that anymore," said Edward. "The truth is… Amestris isn't a terra, though you've all probably guessed that already by now. In all honesty, I doubt Atmos and Amestris even exist on the same plane of existence. I'm fully prepared to believe they're two separate worlds that are somehow connected by the Truth. I don't know how and right now I don't care so long as I can find a way to get home as soon as possible."

"So then…" Stork said slowly, "…you _are_ an alien?"

Edward shrugged.

"I guess," he said.

"_I knew it_," Stork whispered dramatically, and jumped behind the couch to hide. "Don't you come anywhere near me again! You're not spreading any of your alien microbes to me!"

"Microbes?" Edward muttered in confusion. "What…?"

"Don't worry about him," said Aerrow. "How exactly were you planning on getting home?"

Before he answered, Edward pulled the black book out of his pocket again and laid it open on the table for all to see. One page depicted the same design of circles and pentagons that had been drawn on the scroll in the library on Terra Atmosia, and the page next to it was apparently a list of crystals.

"I don't know what the Philosopher's Stone would be made of in Amestris," he explained, "or how it would all be put together to form a source of power, but I'm assuming it's a little different in this world because from what I could tell, it's a combination of extremely powerful crystals. But it looks like it could only be put together by an alchemist, or at least somebody of equivalent power."

"Like Master Cyclonis," Piper said grimly. "She would _kill_ to get her hands on one of those."

Edward nodded, apparently deciding he didn't need to know who that was.

"My original plan was to travel around Atmos and find all the crystals I needed one by one, no matter how long it took," he continued, "but considering how hard it's been just to hang onto that piece of… the Aurora Stone, that's what it's called, right? I'm gonna have to think of something else."

"Can I see that list?" asked Piper, and Edward obediently pushed the notebook over to her.

"It's quite a recipe," he said. "I've already got the Aurora Stone, and now I need fourteen others so that-"

"_Wow_," Piper said suddenly, her eyes widening in shock as she read the list. "Yeah, I can see why you thought this would take a while."

"Huh? Let me see," said Finn, and he and Junko both leaned over her shoulders to see what she was talking about.

"Whoa," the marksman muttered. "Dude, your handwriting is WAY neater than I expected."

"Are all those crystals even real though?" asked Junko. "I haven't even heard of half of these, they sound made up!"

"Oh, they're real alright," said Piper, "and only some of the rarest and most powerful crystals ever to exist! Edward, be glad you managed to find us because if you'd tried to do this alone, it would have taken you _years_."

"Unless you suddenly grew wings," said Stork, who was still hiding behind the couch. "Which, considering what we've seen of you so far, honestly wouldn't surprise me in the slightest."

"Can we please get back on topic?" asked Aerrow.

So Piper reluctantly passed the little book over to Radarr, and Radarr took it back to Edward who accepted it with a grateful muttering of thanks.

"So does anybody have any ideas for how we can get all these crystals and get them quickly?" Aerrow asked.

A hush fell upon the bridge as the entire squadron, plus the alchemist accompanying them, became enraptured in silent thought.

"We could… no," said Stork after a while.

Silence.

"What if we… nah, that wouldn't work," Aerrow said.

More silence.

"We could… we couldn't," Junko said sadly.

"Well, crap," said Edward in exasperation. "I don't have any ideas."

"Some of those crystals," said Piper, "there have only been two or three of them found _ever_. And do you have any idea how much of the Atmos is still uncharted? We could search for decades and not even find the slightest clue!"

"I, uh… I have an idea."

All eyes widened in shock before turning to perhaps the least likely person in the room to have any sort of helpful ideas.

"J-just an idea," he said, raising his hands defensively, "you don't have to listen to it or-"

"Finn, if it's going to help me get home, I wanna hear it," Edward said calmly. "And I'm not gonna shout you down this time, I promise."

Finn couldn't help but stare in disbelief, completely new to this kind of friendliness from the alchemist.

"Well, uh, okay," he said nervously. "I just want you all to know, it's just an idea I had, it popped randomly into my head for no reason whatsoever and- you know what? It's totally a bad idea, let's just forget about it and try to think of something else because-"

"Oh for crying out loud, Finn, will you just tell us?" asked Piper.

He looked around at the group of expectant faces.

"Sure," he said, "but before I say it, I just want you to know that it's not like I'm trying to get rid of Edward or anything, since he'd probably come back from the dead and pummel me, it's just an idea I had and…"

He took a deep breath.

"Cyclonia."

The stares quickly flipped from expectation to disbelief.

"Cyclonia?" said Stork, rising from behind the couch. "A-are you _serious?!_"

"See? I told you it was a bad idea!" said Finn. "So just forget it an-"

"No, hold on a second," said Piper. "You might actually be onto something!"

"I am?!" Finn gaped in shock.

"He is?!" said an equally stunned Stork and Aerrow.

"I'm sorry, I'm kinda lost here, being an ignorant alien and all," Edward said half-sarcastically. "Somebody wanna tell me what this Cyclonia place is and why this is such a bad idea?"

"Try to imagine the worst place in the whole wide world," said Junko, "and then… multiply it by _six!_"

Edward hesitated in his response. Mustang's office early on a Monday morning, multiplied by six, did sound pretty damn nightmarish.

"You remember the night before last?" said Aerrow. "When we were chasing that intruder with purple eyes out of the ship? That was an agent of Cyclonia."

"_Oh_," Edward said as comprehension dawned upon him. "And that was just one, so… yeah, I think I see what the problem is here."

"But think about it," said Piper. "There's only one other person in the whole Atmos who researches crystals as much as I do, and that's Master Cyclonis. Even if she's using them for her plans of conquest, my guess is she would know plenty about the crystals on that list. If we could somehow get some information out of her office or something, it might just give us some clues on how to get what Edward needs to get home! Finn, you're a genius!"

Against all odds, Finn blushed.

"Well," he said, bashfully rubbing the back of his head, "I mean, I wouldn't go that far but-"

"So we've got an idea," said Aerrow, "and now all we need is a plan of attack. How are we going to get in and out without bringing the whole terra down on us?"

There was another pause.

"The access tunnels!" cried Junko. "You know, the ones we used for a getaway the very first time we went to Cyclonia? To bring down that Storm Engine thing? They're large enough to fly the Condor through! We could use them to get in and-"

"-and get wedged helplessly for the Talons to use as target practice?" asked Stork. "I don't think so."

"That might not actually be necessary," said Edward. "Now… just like that other idea, this is only a suggestion, but I've spent long enough in the military to know that sometimes a smaller team is much more effective in getting the job done than a larger force. If we really are going to this Cyclonia place and it really is as horrible as you make it sound, it shouldn't be all of us; two, maybe three at the most. When you consider that fewer people would be less likely to be noticed…"

"So it is a good idea!" Junko cried joyfully. "YES!"

"You know what, buddy?" said Finn. "You and me should call ourselves the Good Idea Platoon, 'coz we are on fire right now!"

He and his Wallop friend shared a fist bump (which was quickly followed by Finn shaking his hand and hissing in pain because it was like punching a brick wall).

"Only two," Aerrow said thoughtfully. "So who would it be?"

Silently, all eyes fell upon him.

"Why am I not surprised?" he asked, voice flatter than a pancake.

"You're definitely better at sneaking around Cyclonia than Finn and Junko ever could be," said Piper.

"And there's the fact that you probably stand the best chance if you run into any big names while you're there," Finn pointed out.

"Just so long as you don't run into the Dark Ace," said Stork.

"Yeah," said Junko as Radarr chirruped in agreement. "We all know how you get around _him_."

Edward watched curiously as Aerrow clenched his fists on the table's top.

"Not to worry," he said. "I'll be discreet."

"In that case, I'm going along too," said Edward. "I know I'm probably not as subtle, but I'll know what I need when I see it."

"Right," said Aerrow, and this was the cue for everybody to stand up, "so this is the plan."

Piper unrolled a conveniently-produced map on the table.

"Stork will take the Condor as close to Cyclonia as she can get without being detected," said Aerrow, pointing at the very edge of a border of black. "From there, I'll fly in with Edward and we'll drop low, probably go down to the Wastelands if we have to, and avoid the border guards who'd otherwise stand in our way. We then head up once we reach the base of the terra, enter through those access pipes (assuming they haven't been blocked off since our last visit) and find some disguises once we're inside. Then we work our way up to the Master's office, take what we need and if luck's on our side, we'll be back here before the day is out. Sound like a plan?"

The squadron nodded.

"Impressive," Edward said with a smile. "Now I _know_ I picked the right people to trust."

Radarr made a face as if to say "Aw, stop."

"You sure did," Aerrow said. "Okay, people! Let's do this! Stork, detach the ship and set us on a course for Cyclonia!"

"On it!" Stork said with a quick salute, and hurried back to the helm.

"Piper, you keep an eye on those maps," said Aerrow. "Make sure we're not getting too close to enemy territory!"

"You can count on me!" Piper said with a cheerful thumbs-up.

"Finn, Junko, you're on lookout duty," Aerrow said, pointing at the pair. "If you see any battle cruisers or border guards or even just that violin guy Ravess keeps with her, you let us know!"

"You got it!" said Finn.

"Got it!" Junko echoed, and the two ran over the periscopes.

"Radarr," Aerrow turned to his co-pilot, "I need you to prime my ride, okay? I wanna be flying out of here the moment we're close enough."

The blue creature saluted and quickly ran out of the bridge.

"And me?" asked Edward. "What massively important task am I saddled with?"

"You…" Aerrow started, but realised he had run out of assignments. "You… find something to hold onto."

Edward's face fell.

"I'm probably the closest thing this world has to a living god, I think I know how to hold on to something," he murmured too quietly for anyone to hear.

"Really, though," said Stork, reaching for a lever, "you all should fasten your seatbelts, and if you don't have a seatbelt to fasten…"

He turned to face them with a dramatic flick of his hair and his eyes narrowed sinisterly.

"…_find one_."

He pulled the lever.

One by one the grapples released from the underside of the terra and the Condor was free, and the Merb carefully steered the large ship up into the clouds until it was clear of all obstruction.

"You'll like the next part," Aerrow whispered to Edward. "Stork _lives_ for this."

With a happy twinkling of his fingers, Stork reached for another lever, and gave it a good hard wrench.

The entire interior of the ship seemed to displace itself as the Condor rocketed through the skies like an immense tank shell and probably three times and destructive. She annihilated entire clouds by punching through them and left a huge and more-than-easy-to-follow trail of empty sky in her wake. Needless to say, there were plenty of birds in the near vicinity who were rather startled by her passing by.

"_WWWWWHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAA!_" screamed Edward as he was pressed back into the couch.

"Put your hands in the air!" Aerrow said, demonstrating. "It's more fun if you put your hands in the air!"

"_AWESOME!"_ yelled Finn, punching the air as Junko whooped in joy.

"ANY TIME, PIPER!" shouted Stork.

"That'll be ten leagues…" Piper said, keeping her eyes on the map, "fifteen… twenty… get ready to hit the brakes… NOW!"

Stork slammed his hand down on a button and the Condor came to a screeching halt. It was so sudden that anybody who didn't have a firm grip on something was thrown forward: Edward right across the table and onto the floor beyond and Finn straight into the windscreen, where he slid down to the ground with a pathetic squeaking noise.

It was a few moments before anybody spoke.

"Is it over?" Edward said weakly, winded by his fall.

"Yeah," said an equally out of breath Aerrow. "Yeah, it's done."

"If I'm right, and I almost always am," Piper said proudly, "we should be only a league or so away from Cyclonia. Any closer and we'll be spotted in a nanosecond."

She wiped her brow on the back of her hand. Even for her, that ride had been pretty exhilarating.

"You okay, Finn?" Junko asked as he picked his friend up off the floor.

"Okay?" said the maniacally grinning marksman. "That was awesome! Can we do it again?"

"I don't think so," said Stork, tapping a nearby dial with his finger. "Not when the crystal array is dangerously close to overloading. One more trip like that today and… _kaboom_."

Aerrow pulled Edward to his feet.

"Is it always like this?" asked the alchemist.

"Most of the time," said Aerrow. "So what do you say? Ready to go?"

Edward cracked the knuckles on his left hand.

"You bet your ass I am," he said.

"Right," said Aerrow. "Piper, you're in charge while I'm gone. No complaints, Finn: not after what happened last time."

Finn, who had been about to object, deflated in disappointment.

"Don't you guys worry," Aerrow said as he and Edward headed for the door. "I'll be back by sundown. This'll be a piece of cake."

They left the bridge and the door hissed closed in their wake.

The rest of the squadron spent several seconds watching after them.

"They're doomed," said Stork.

* * *

><p>"Hey! Radarr!"<p>

The blue creature looked up eagerly from the skimmer as the Sky Knight entered, fully decked out in armour and complete with energy blades at his back.

"Hope you found something to hang on to," Aerrow said as he and Edward approached the vehicle. "Is it ready to go?"

Radarr gave him a thumbs-up.

"So you fly on this thing," Edward said, mainly to himself. "Doesn't the wind get in your eyes? Doesn't that hurt?"

"Oh yeah, you're new to this," Aerrow said in realisation. "We have something for that. Radarr?"

The co-pilot reached into the sidecar and pulled out a pair of flying goggles, and proudly presented them to Edward, who took them and looked them over.

"If it makes you feel better," said Aerrow as he withdrew a second set, "I'll wear some too, okay?"

Without any further questions, Edward pulled the goggles on, struggling a little to manoeuvre the strap around his thick hair but eventually working out a comfortable position.

"If I'm gonna die today," he said, "I might as well die looking like a bizarre sea creature."

"That's the spirit!" Aerrow said cheerfully.

He climbed onto the ride and Radarr leapt onto his shoulder.

"Whoa, no," he said. "I'm sorry, but you've got to stay here, Radarr. Chances are there's not gonna be room for you with Edward tagging along."

Radarr's expression became one of shock and disappointment.

"Sorry, little guy," Edward added. "Will it make it up to you if I bring him back in one piece?"

Radarr considered this for a moment. He jumped back down to the ground and pointed two fingers (or least what could be considered fingers on him) at his eyes and then at Edward – the international code for "I'm watching you". Once that was done, he ran over to the wall and pulled a lever and the hangar doors slowly peeled back to reveal the sky and runway beyond.

Edward tentatively climbed onto the sidecar and tried to make himself comfortable.

"Are you ready?" asked Aerrow.

"This isn't going to fall off in mid-air, is it?" Edward responded.

"No, I doubt it," Aerrow said. "That hasn't happened yet."

"Yet?!" Edward yelped.

"It's not gonna happen, alright?" said Aerrow as he revved the engine. "See ya, Radarr!"

With no further hesitation, he sped down the entire length of the runway and nosedived off the end.

* * *

><p><strong>I felt like a return to form might be necessary. After all, the sky squadrons are probably the closest thing Atmos has to an actual military (besides Cyclonia of course) so it would make sense that they would have to work like a well-oiled machine when they needed to, but at the same time the Storm Hawks are still rather young so of course they're not going to take it seriously. Also it's better to write Edward like this because he's not hiding anything anymore, so it's probably going to get easier from hereon.<strong>

**Plus there's the fact that while there's an action-packed and slightly serious story in both, Storm Hawks and Fullmetal Alchemist are both incredibly fun to experience, and that's partly what I was trying to convey in this chapter.**

**SH fans, I can confirm that the Dark Ace will make appearances in the next two chapters.**

**FMA fans, I hope you enjoy reading Edward's first open-air flying experience as much as I've enjoyed writing it.**

**I'm sorry if I come across as a little arrogant; it's just that I'm just having the time of my life writing this story. I'm actually a little worried that the ending I have planned is going to lose some readers...**

**Reviews are very welcome!**


	10. Chapter 10

"_**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGHH!**_"

So far the shorter of the two didn't seem to be enjoying the ride.

"Hey, Edward?" Aerrow said calmly. "If you wouldn't mind deploying the wings...?"

Edward finally stopped screaming and through his screwed up eyes he caught sight of the appropriate switch, and his trembling hand found it and pulled it. His grip on the sidecar tightened as the Sky Knight pulled up above the layers of volcanic smog and into the towering clouds.

"There," said Aerrow. "That wasn't so hard."

"Speak for yourself," Edward whimpered.

When Aerrow looked, he saw that this boy who was an entire year older than him was clinging for dear life to the sidecar with his eyes closed so tightly, one could wonder why he even needed goggles.

"You know," said Aerrow, "seeing as we've levelled out and we don't have to go down to the Wastelands for a while yet, you could try opening your eyes."

Edward moved a hand to one of the handlebars, his knuckles probably white under his gloves.

"Are you sure?!" he yelled. "'Coz you should know I'm trusting you with my life right now!"

"I've done this a million times," Aerrow told him. "I should know if it's safe to have your eyes open or not. What're you waiting for?"

As if it weighed a tonne, Edward lifted his head and the wind rushed into his bangs and blew them right back against his scalp. He slowly cracked open one of his eyes.

And then the other, and his jaw fell slack.

Aerrow hadn't ever thought it possible for a single person to look so happy until he saw Edward's face light up like the sun on a Solaris crystal before he threw his hands into the air and whooped and yelled with joy. The Sky Knight couldn't help but laugh at the sight.

"THIS IS SO AWESOME!" Edward screamed, his coat billowing out dramatically behind him as he threw out his arms.

"You think so?" asked Aerrow, moving his thumb towards a button. "Just wait until I activate the afterburner!"

"The _WHAT?!_" Edward seized a handle just in time for the skimmer to suddenly explode with speed, and only just managed to hold on as the pair sped through the clouds, leaving bizarrely shaped holes in the clouds they moved too fast to avoid.

When the afterburner finally wore off, both boys were soaked to the bone and had rather different reactions to it as the water was blown away.

"Why did you have to do that?" Edward asked, plainly terrified.

"Why else?" Aerrow asked back. "To see the look on your face, of course!"

He laughed as the look in question shifted from terror to annoyance.

"Hey, relax!" He gave the alchemist a friendly tap on the shoulder. "I'm one of the best flyers in the known Atmos."

"Thanks for the reassurance," said Edward, and it was impossible to tell if he was sincere or not, "but I'm not much of a flyer, especially on giant motor-powered bicycles! In fact, th-this may or may not be my very first time flying open-air!"

"Huh? You've never flown before?"

"Not in a manner of speaking, unless being thrown around by my teacher counts as flying!"

Aerrow laughed again.

"I'm not too sure about that," he said.

"I would be!" Edward insisted. "I'm pretty sure I got a good view of the planet's curvature once!"

"Oh, really?" said Aerrow. "I bet it wasn't half as awesome as this planet's."

"Well, you- wait," Edward said. "Are you saying you've been into space?"

Aerrow didn't reply. He just smiled quietly to himself.

"Hey," said Edward. "Did you go into space?"

The Sky Knight remained silent, secretly enjoying the alchemist's frustration.

"Fine, forget it," Edward huffed. "How long will it take us to reach this Cyclonia place?"

"The afterburner gave us a boost," Aerrow informed him, "so it shouldn't take too long. Trust me, you'll know when we're getting close."

"I do trust you, Flyboy," said Edward, "and that's kinda why I'm so frickin' nervous!"

"You trust me?" said Aerrow. "Just not enough to call me by name?"

Edward glanced at him, looking like he was completely stumped.

"What? Come on, it's true!" he pointed out. "If you really trust me with your life, how come you don't call me by my real name?"

But Edward seemed to have stopped listening. He looked up at the sky, at the clouds surrounding them, which were beginning to darken. Some were already the colour of blood.

"I'm guessing we're getting close," he stated.

"Yeah," said Aerrow. "Hold on, we're going down!"

He steered his skimmer down into the lowest cloud layer, hunched over with his eyes narrowed in concentration while Edward hung on desperately to the handlebars and leaned back as far as he could without flattening his back against the sidecar. They were falling almost vertically at an admittedly pretty damn high speed, and Aerrow found himself glad he'd chosen to wear goggles for this occasion.

"Holy _SHIT!_" Edward screamed as the Wastelands came into view.

Aerrow pulled up in the nick of time, wincing slightly as the lava seared the base of his skimmer, and ducked and weaved around to avoid the volcanic explosions which he could have sworn were programmed into the earth just to try to knock him down. Edward seemed too alarmed even to scream as he pulled up to a safe distance.

When he looked over, the alchemist's face was frozen in gritted-teethed terror.

"How you doing?" he inquired.

"_Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..._" Edward let out a high-pitched shuddering whimper that lasted at ten seconds without pause.

"Yeah, that's pretty much everybody's reaction to this place," Aerrow told him. "You can probably see why we call it the Wastelands."

"Uh-huh," said Edward, "because this is the perfect place to go and waste someone!"

"I wouldn't have put it quite like that," said Aerrow, "but I think you summed it up pretty well. You still think this is awesome?"

"The moment we stop," Edward shakily said, "I am going to get off and hug whatever ground we land on, Cyclonian or otherwise."

Aerrow snorted in laughter.

"Stop laughing!" cried Edward. "This isn't funny, this is terrifying!"

"Maybe to you, but I wish I'd brought a camera."

"Oh yeah, 'coz what's really important right now isn't getting out of this horrifying volcanic nightmare, but making sure my face right now is documented for future generations to laugh at!"

He yelped as they dodged out of the way of an erupting volcano.

"I guess," he said, now panting, "I guess this explains a few things."

"What do you mean?" asked Aerrow.

"Ever since I got here, my alchemy's been feeling a bit more powerful," Edward explained. "Transmutations are powered by geothermal energy-" they dodged another eruption and he yelped again "-generated by stuff like volcanoes and earthquakes etcetera-" something exploded behind them "-or just general movements in the earth's crust-" a plume of smoke almost enveloped them and required a quick dodge "-so the state of this place might even explain how I was able to make it here in one piece!"

"I... I understood about half of that," Aerrow said. "The rest just sounded like gibberish."

"I'm not surprised."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I've been studying this stuff since before I was four years old and it's not all that shocking that someone who discovered it only a couple of days ago doesn't have a clue about all the technical stuff!"

Aerrow shrugged. He couldn't argue with that.

"Please tell me we're getting close," said Edward, who was beginning to look rather nauseous.

"It shouldn't be much further," Aerrow replied. "I'm glad we avoided the border guards, but getting in without being seen is gonna be a bit of a challenge."

He pulled up, flying straight up the wall of what looked like a mountain, but it was quite obviously the base of a terra. Not just any terra, but their dark, evil-ridden destination. Aerrow calmly tightened his grip while Edward tightly hugged the sidecar, sweating and trying desperately to ignore the growing gap between him and solid ground.

When they emerged from the thick layer of cloud and volcanic smog, he looked around.

"Whoa," he breathed, taken aback at the sight of the rolling, endless blood-red clouds, towering spikes of charred black rock and constant rumbles of thunder. "This... this is Cyclonia?"

"I know," Aerrow said grimly. "Ugly, isn't it?"

He levelled out and entered an immense pipe large enough for the Condor to fly through, switched to wheel mode and they rumbled along, deeper and deeper into the inside of the terra, twisting and turning until they finally came to a halt.

"No wonder they keep trying to invade," said Edward as Aerrow climbed off. "That place looks like a total hellhole."

"Tell me about it," said Aerrow, and he lifted his goggles to his forehead. "Seeing as we've stopped, why don't you get off?"

He didn't. Edward just let go of the sidecar and fell off, limbs splayed out spread-eagle on the floor.

"That was probably one of the most intense experiences of my life," he gasped.

"You sure about that?" Aerrow asked. "Might wanna save that title for the ride out of here. You need a hand?"

"Nah," said Edward. "I got it."

He leant back onto his shoulders, legs in the air, and jumped to his feet.

"So how're we getting up there?" he asked, indicating the ladder hanging out of the faraway ceiling. "You got a rocket pack or something?"

"Actually, no," said Aerrow, "I was kinda hoping you'd think of a solution, being a total brainiac and all."

Edward rolled his eyes.

"Fine," he said, and he removed his coat and laid it over the stationary skimmer. "Gimme a sec."

He walked away from the side closest to the ladder, up the curve as far as possible, then turned around and charged down at incredible speed, somehow making up to the point where the wall became vertical, at which point he clapped his hands and slapped them into the side of the pipe. A crackle of blue lightning shot up to the ladder, which slowly extended as the pipe's material poured into it until it was just low enough for Aerrow to touch without having to stretch his arm.

"Nice," he commented as the alchemist slid down the side of the pipe and came to a rest at his feet.

"Glad you think so," said Edward as he got up. "Could you gimme a boost?"

"Sure."

"Thanks."

Aerrow lifted Edward's foot, hoisting him high enough to grab the lowest rung, and followed the short blonde up the ladder once there was room.

"You know," said Aerrow as they climbed, "you're a lot heavier than you look."

"Are you calling me fat as well as short?" Edward asked angrily.

"What? No! It's probably your automail."

"Yeah, probably. I know it took me ages just to be able to lift it."

"About that," said Aerrow as Edward reached and opened the trapdoor at the top, "if the recovery period takes three years like you said, how you come you were able to do it in only one?"

Edward climbed out and offered the Sky Knight a hand.

"Simple," he said proudly as he pulled Aerrow out, "I'm awesome."

When they had both emerged, they carefully examined their surroundings.

"That's the hatch we used the first time we came here," said Aerrow, looking at the hatch with an almost fond expression. "We had the Condor down in that pipe and Finn and Junko used it to escape."

"I'm wondering if I should ask about that," said Edward as he pressed his ear to the door. "You've been here before?"

"Unfortunately," said Aerrow. "It's a long story."

Edward jumped away from the door.

"Someone's coming," he said. "We gotta hide, quick!"

Aerrow grabbed his wrist and pulled him down into the hatch, pulling it closed just as the door opened. They waited until the sound of footsteps stopped and the door opened and closed again before they emerged.

The redhead quickly peeked out. He saw a Talon walk away and turn a corner, and beckoned the blonde to follow him the other way.

He looked around the corner, as did his companion, at the two soldiers who were standing right there having a conversation.

"We need some kind of disguise," Aerrow whispered. "Usually on missions like this we just steal some janitor's boiler suit, but this is the belly of the beast. People here know about the Storm Hawks. We're gonna have to steal some uniforms off a Talon and pray they've got something in your size."

Edward frowned slightly, but he was intently studying the Talons ahead.

"Why steal?" he asked, pressing his hands together in front of his chest.

* * *

><p>Things were going pretty normally in Cyclonia. In fact, with the Master so strongly occupied by her current, apparently rather personal project, everything seemed far more laid back than usual, and many of the soldiers were just standing around, having a conversation.<p>

So nobody really took much notice of the two that walked through the corridors, weaving their way towards the Master's office, the taller one occasionally casting furtive and anxious glances at the people around them.

"Will you _stop_ that?" the shorter one whispered while trying hard not to hunch. "If you keep looking around like that, someone's gonna catch on!"

"Hey, I'm nervous, alright?" the taller, whose hair was bulging under his cap, muttered back. "I know I'm dressed exactly like one of them, but I can't help but feel kinda... I dunno, exposed."

"Look, I've been around plenty of military bases in my time with the state," Edward told his companion. "You just gotta walk around like you don't give a damn about anything and nobody will look at you twice."

"I get that," said Aerrow, "but are you sure this transmutation of yours isn't going to wear off when we're even deeper in than we already are?"

"Wear off?" Edward was frowning behind his reddened goggles. "Alchemy doesn't work that way. Transmutations don't wear off; they're permanent until an alchemist comes along to undo them. Now stop worrying about it, alright?"

"Good morning," said a passing Talon.

"Heeeeey," Aerrow said, waving his hand in greeting and holding the syllable for far longer than he probably should have.

"Wait, we don't know him," Edward pointed out.

"While we're here, we might as well try to be authentic," said Aerrow as he lowered his hand. "Isn't that the whole reason we dressed like this?"

"It better be worth it," said Edward, fingering his tight armour. "I doubt they'll be impressed if they find out I'm wearing part of their walls-"

"I SAID NO MUSTARD!"

The two froze at the sound of the shout from a room up ahead.

"HOW HARD IS IT TO MAKE A HOTDOG WITH NO. _MUSTARD?!_"

The door crashed outward under the weight of a Talon who had obviously been flying at a pretty high speed, and he slid down to the floor and started groaning.

Aerrow and Edward took a step back as a mace-wielding, squinty eyed, seven-foot-tall walking wall of muscle stepped into the corridor.

"What're you dweebs looking at?!" he demanded, brandishing his immense weapon.

"N-Nothing, sir!" Aerrow stammered.

With a growl of rage, the terrifying stranger raised his mace to pound the disguised Sky Knight into the wall.

Then he started laughing.

"Get outta my way, ya pipsqueaks," he said, and shoved both of them aside as he walked down the corridor.

The two boys slowly slid down the wall, Edward taking care not to hit the door of a nearby janitor's closet.

"That is exactly what I was afraid of," said Aerrow. "I guess we're lucky he didn't recognise me."

"You know that jerk?" asked Edward, and judging by his voice he was pretty annoyed at what they had been called.

"Unfortunately," Aerrow said. "That was Snipe. He's the one Cyclonis uses when she wants strength without smarts."

He climbed to his feet.

"I'm surprised you haven't had a tantrum yet," he commented. "You did hear what he called us, right?"

Edward clenched his fists. He was obviously angry and trying very hard not to become explosive like he usually was.

"_WellIguessanybodywouldlooklikeatotalpipsqueaknexttothatguy_," he spluttered, and sighed heavily in relief.

"You're right about that," Aerrow said as he helped the alchemist up. "I just hope we don't run into-"

"What's going on in here?"

Another intimidating figure was questioning those left in whatever room that immense brute had just departed. He was tall and dark, his eyes were narrow and slanted, his entire demeanour strong and powerful and almost demonic in nature. He didn't look like a man to be reckoned with.

"...the Dark Ace," Aerrow finished, clenching his fists and glaring in fury at the newcomer.

"Let me guess," said Edward as he got up, "tough guy?"

"One of the toughest," said Aerrow through gritted teeth. "He's Master Cyclonis' right-hand man and the commander of her army of Talons, and he has a personal vendetta against me."

"Really? Why?"

"Don't ask, just act natural. If he knew I was here..."

They started walking, hoping to pass right by, and at first it looked as if they had escaped notice.

"You two. Stop."

They froze, and slowly looked round as the Dark Ace walked right up to Edward.

"Aren't you a little _short_ to be a Talon?" he asked, looking down his bent nose at the boy.

Edward's fists clenched and he gritted his teeth in rage.

"He's a new recruit, sir," Aerrow said quickly. "Just graduated from the Academy. Sir."

The Dark Ace turned to him, and Aerrow was glad his red-tinted goggles hid the fact that his eyes were narrowed in anger.

"Huh," said the Cyclonian. "I didn't know that place was still running. Must be under new management. Very well, be on your way."

He walked away in the direction they had come from.

Aerrow looked down at Edward, who was trembling with the effort of suppressing his anger. He grabbed the alchemist's collar and threw him into the nearby janitor's closet.

He leaned against the door, resting his head on his hands and patiently listening as what was on the other side was annihilated by a storm of crashes, bangs, shouting and curses that would make a grown man blush. He was pretty sure he even heard a chicken squawk in alarm at one point.

Another soldier stopped and stared.

"Better keep walking," said Aerrow, pointing down the corridor with his thumb, "there's a monster going crazy in there."

The Talon nodded and ran straight past as if something was chasing him.

With a few final shouts, as well as some unnervingly heavy bangs on the door, the janitor's closet became silent.

Aerrow opened the door, revealing an out-of-breath Edward with his hair poking out of his cap and his goggles askew, standing in a veritable sea of carnage.

"Are you finished?" he asked.

Edward stepped out, for some reason followed by a very disgruntled chicken, and straightened his goggles. He didn't seem to care about his hair.

"Yeah, I'm done," he said sourly. "We gonna keep moving?"

* * *

><p>"Hey, that chicken's following us," said Edward.<p>

"Is it?" Aerrow said, and he looked back to see that yes, the bird was still strutting after them. "Where did it even come from?"

"Don't ask me," Edward said, "it just came with that closet."

He looked down at the chicken.

"Piss off, will you?" he snapped.

The chicken cocked its head in indignation. It didn't stop following them.

"It's still there!" Edward whispered.

"Ssh!" Aerrow pushed him back and held up a finger for silence.

They were standing next to another door. The Sky Knight reached forward and rapped on it three times.

After waiting for a few seconds, he pulled Edward inside and ignored the fowl creature that followed them in and wandered into a corner.

"This is it," said Aerrow as he and the alchemist surveyed the room. "Master Cyclonis' private office."

Edward adjusted his goggles.

"Is it always this dark in here?" he asked.

"Don't worry about that right now," said Aerrow as he approached the desk. "We need to stay focused."

"Shouldn't one of us stay by the door?" asked Edward.

"If anyone comes in, we'll just say we were sent in to clean it," Aerrow said.

"And if it's her and she doesn't buy it?"

"I'll think of something. Trust me."

He walked over to the desk and started rummaging around while Edward started examining the books that lined the multitude of shelves.

"Dammit," he swore, "this would be so much easier if I could read this language…"

"You've been here for one and a half weeks," Aerrow pointed out. "Didn't you even think to make a cypher?"

"No, I didn't!" Edward snapped. "Because it's only after I met you guys that I finally started to figure out what the hell was going on with this place! I had to make a rough estimate of what that scroll thing said about those crystals and I'm pretty damn amazed that I got it right! How about you try getting transmuted to an alien world where you can't read the language and you don't know anybody and see how that plays out for you?"

"Okay, okay!" said Aerrow, and returned to searching on the desk. "Just try to be quiet, will you?"

Then his eye fell upon a familiar symbol and he pulled out the opened scroll from under the rest of the papers.

"Edward!" he whispered as loud as he dared, "come and look at this!"

The alchemist half-jogged over to the desk, trying not to make too much noise.

"What is it?" he asked. "Did you find something?"

"Yeah," Aerrow replied, and he flattened out the parchment. "Check it out; it's the scroll we found in the library. The one about the Philosopher's Stone!"

"No way!" Edward's face could have lit up the room. "This is perfect! Could you read it out? 'Coz, you know..."

"Sure," said Aerrow, and picked a paragraph at random. "'Upon commencement of the ritual, the earth shall be alighted in celeste-' what's celeste?"

"Celeste- that's a shade of blue," said Edward. "A really light shade. It's talking about the transmutation, keep going!"

"…'alighted in celeste, fading soon to violet as the crystalline energy coalesces at the centre of the structural matrix'," Aerrow continued. "So basically, it starts out blue but then becomes purple when it really gets going… 'and after a blaze of brilliance that temporarily renders all who look upon it inert of vision, the Philosopher's Stone shall materialise'."

"Dammit, that's just a description of what the transmutation looks like," Edward said in disappointment. "What about organisation? What crystal goes where on that circle? Does it matter?"

Aerrow scanned over the scroll, searching for the appropriate information.

"'Experimentation has revealed that arrangement of required materials is of little or no importance'," he recited, "'should the alchemist performing these arts be strong of heart and high of skill. Thy faith must not waver lest the on wh- the _one_ who wishes to acquire the stone feel the energy of their attempts reflected upon thy body which shall surely eradicate thee from existence'. Uh... Edward?"

"Yeah?" Edward said.

"This makes it sound like one heck of a challenge," Aerrow pointed out. "Are you totally sure you can do this?"

"He will if he knows what's good for him."

It was only then, in that terrifying moment, that the boys realised their mistake.

Both had become completely engrossed in the scroll.

Neither had been watching the door.

Neither had noticed when it opened.

And neither had been paying any kind of attention when the most powerful and intimidating person in the entire world slowly walked into the room, waiting calmly for them to finish their conversation, or at least reach a point where she could intervene.

Aerrow dropped the scroll in shock. He only barely remembered how he was dressed.

"M-Master Cyclonis!" he stammered. "Forgive us, we were ordered to tidy up in here and-"

"No," said Master Cyclonis, "you weren't."

A sadistic smile was all that was visible beneath her hood as she raised her staff and fired a huge blast of lilac energy into their faces, catapulting both of them backwards over her desk and, rather painfully, onto the floor beyond.

She discarded her cloak in a similar yet smaller flash of light and leapt, softly as a cat, onto her desk, where she stared down at the intruders with a gaze that could cut through solid lead.

"Master!" called somebody from out in the corridor. "Is everything alright in there?"

"There's nothing to worry about," Cyclonis responded without taking her eyes off her prey. "Everything is as it should be."

She softly jumped down off the desk as Aerrow and Edward looked up at her, not daring to rise into a sitting position.

"You must be the fabled alchemist," she said, examining the shorter of the pair. "I must admit that I expected you to be... taller."

"I could say the same thing about you, you dot-faced bitch!" Edward snapped, clearly struggling not to take it further. "What're you, thirteen? How the hell are you the one in charge of this hellhole?!"

The Master held the crystal that topped her staff dangerously close to his face, and he fell silent and tried to shy away. A quick zap broke the bridge of his goggles, which fell away from his face, and Cyclonis lifted the cap aside with the other end of the staff.

"Well," she said, "no wonder. Who are you to comment on my age so brashly when you yourself are barely older than your companion? Speaking of which…"

She turned to Aerrow and blasted his goggles away, and the force of the bolt caused his cap to come flying off.

"You're looking well," she commented, unnervingly casual. "I believe you were recovering from a nasty accident the last time we met?"

"What do you care?" asked Aerrow. "You're the one who tried to put me down permanently, remember?"

It was almost sickening how satisfied she looked just from hearing him say that. Luckily she turned back to Edward before Aerrow had a chance to gag, and the Sky Knight instead started slowly getting to his feet, hoping to evade her notice.

"How do you know about me?" asked the blonde. "How do you know I'm an alchemist?"

"I'm assuming you've been here long enough to have found out who I am," Cyclonis said arrogantly. "And if not, then I have no choice but to pity you."

"Yeah yeah, you're Master Cyclonis, the head honcho everybody's scared shitless of," said a now-annoyed Edward. "My name's Edward, by the way. Edward Elric. Thanks for asking."

"I honesty couldn't care less, so long as you act with obedience," said Cyclonis.

As Aerrow was preparing to punch her out, she sent a bolt of energy surging into his body with merely a wave of her staff and he was pinned against the wall, this time held there by her power.

"Flyboy!" Edward cried in shock.

"Oh yo- _come on!_" Aerrow said angrily. "You _still_ don't want to use my real name? I do have one, you know!"

"If you know what's good for you, Sky Knight," Cyclonis said dangerously quietly, glaring at him through narrowed eyes, "you'll keep your mouth shut before I erase it."

Admittedly frightened, Aerrow pressed his lips as tightly together as he could without pouting.

"Let's make this simple, so that your fragile minds can comprehend it," said Cyclonis as she effortlessly lifted Edward to his feet with a single hand on his collar. "From your interest in my research, I'm assuming that you and I are after the same thing. Perhaps for different reasons, but that hardly matters."

"The Philosopher's Stone?" Edward shook himself out of her grip. "What do you want with that? No – don't tell me – it's conquest, right? That's what all you evil overlords are after. That's your shtick, right?"

To his irritation, she smiled.

"You make it sound as though to have ambition is a bad thing," she said. "And to answer your earlier question; I am one of the most powerful figures in the known Atmos. Do you not think I would put time aside to set up some kind of spy network? I have eyes on almost every terra. How else would I know which would bring the greatest advantage should I ever go ahead with an invasion?"

Edward gritted his teeth in anger.

"Megalomaniac brat," muttered Aerrow.

Without even looking his way, Cyclonis raised her hand and curled her fingers inwards, and instantly the Sky Knight began to choke and struggle for air.

"Don't you dare-" Edward tried, but she pushed him back with her staff in his face.

"While I do possess the power to eradicate you using what's left of your own pathetic little skeleton," she said calmly, "I still have need of you. You see, I must have read over these scrolls dozens of times since I acquired them and have since used my influence to discreetly gather every necessary material, but as you can quite plainly see, I don't have the Stone yet. I have all the knowledge in the world, yet I don't have the abilities to apply them. And that's where you come into play… Edward, isn't it?"

Edward's gaze shifted from the staff to her face, not knowing whether or not it would be appropriate to scowl.

"So I have, shall we say, a proposal for you," Cyclonis continued. "You make me the Philosopher's Stone, and in return, I'll allow you and your… acquaintance to leave this terra with your lives. And you need never have to fear me again. Isn't that what you alchemists call 'Equivalent Exchange'?"

Increasingly uneasy, Edward glanced up at the still-struggling Aerrow, who by now seemed more focused on getting air into his lungs than paying attention to the current conversation.

"What if I refuse?" he asked.

Cyclonis smiled.

"Then I'll have no choice but to erase both of you from existence in the most painful way possible," she helpfully informed him.

Edward looked to her staff, pulsing with purple energy, to her face as her dark smile widened further, and then to Aerrow, whose face was beginning to turn blue.

"Edward…" he choked. "…don't do it… just get out of here… tell… tell the others we failed… I'm not… worth sacrificing… all of Atmos… we'll find some other way…"

Frowning, Cyclonis glared at him out of the corners of her eyes and curled her fingers in further, and the Sky Knight all but stopped breathing.

"Stop it!"

Both of them looked back at Edward.

"Let him go," he said. "I'll do it. You can have the Stone."

With another sickening smile, Cyclonis opened her hand and Aerrow fell heavily to the floor, clutching at his throat and gasping for air.

"Just give me a moment to set it up," said Edward.

He pulled out his chalk and drew a large circle on the ground, and a pentagon within it, then did the same again but with the inner circle touching the edges of the pentagon.

"Alright," he said as he straightened up. "Now I need the crystals."

Cyclonis casually waved her hand and one of the drawers in her desk slid open, and fourteen crystals of varying sizes, shapes and colours drifted slowly out and rested in different positions on the transmutation circle.

"Edward," Aerrow said croakily as the alchemist walked over to him, "you're not seriously going through with this, are you? You know how much you want the Philosopher's Stone! I thought you needed it to restore your brother's body! Are you seriously considering handing it over to Cyclonis?"

Edward reached into the Sky Knight's pocket and pulled out the tiny shard of the Aurora Stone.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I don't have a choice. And I can't let you die."

Aerrow watched, confused and worried, as Edward placed the shard on the one free space in the circle.

"If I were you," said Cyclonis to the redhead as she took a step away from the circle, "I wouldn't try to interfere. I don't even want to know what would happen if a person were to get dragged into this sort of transmutation. Would you?"

Trying to ignore her, Aerrow watched as Edward positioned himself on the far side of the circle.

"Edward, you don't have to go through with this," he insisted. "We'll find some other way to get the Philosopher's Stone. You don't have to do it like this. Just stop now!"

Edward raised his hands to clap.

"Edward!"

And pressed them together in front of his chest.

"EDWARD, STOP!"

And in a snap he crouched down, pushing his hands against the chalk lines which lit up with a pale blue glow, and as lightning sparked outwards and upwards from the points upon which the crystals lay, a swirl of brilliant light started to gather in the centre as the glow faded into purple, and the Sky Knight was blinded by a sudden rush of brilliant white.

* * *

><p><strong>I always envisioned Cyclonis as a sort of calculative sociopath, almost like if Kimblee was a teenage girl. She knows what she wants and is willing to kill as many people as it takes to achieve it, and I bet she would simply <em>delight<em> in almost choking Aerrow to death. I can just imagine her casually checking her nails while standing on top of somebody's corpse.**

**On another note, has anyone ever noticed that the Dark Ace has practically the same hair colour as Envy? It's rather weird.**

**So as you can probably tell, this is a rather different kind of Philosopher's Stone than the one depicted in both the original FMA and the Brotherhood series. Really it's more of a proto-Stone - it has the same amount of energy, but you don't need to kill anybody to get it (unless you're Cyclonis and/or you just feel a bit murderous). It's probably just as difficult to obtain too.**

**Note: one thing Cyclonis said in this chapter is actually foreshadowing of the ending. See if you can figure out which it is...**

**Reviews are very welcome!**


	11. Chapter 11

It could have taken an eternity for the light to fade.

Aerrow's eyes were hurting, telling him it probably hadn't been a good idea to watch the transmutation, as he rubbed them and tried to once again focus on what was in front of him.

"Is it done?" asked Cyclonis.

Edward knelt in the centre of the circle, gazing in wonder at something in his cupped hands that cast a soft red glow on his enraptured face.

"I did it…" he muttered. "I can't believe it, I… I actually _did it…_"

"Excellent," said Cyclonis, and she held out her hand to receive it. "Now then, pass it to me and you will be allowed to walk free."

"Over three years of searching," Edward said quietly, as though he hadn't heard her, "trying to find even the tiniest lead… I finally have it… the Philosopher's Stone…"

Noticing that Cyclonis seemed to have forgotten about him, Aerrow slowly got up.

"Did you hear me?" she said insistently. "I said _hand it over_."

Edward stood up, clutching the Stone in a clenched fist.

"No," he said, glaring at her defiantly.

"Excuse me?!" she responded in disbelief and anger, raising her staff to his face again.

"You heard me," said Edward, ignoring this new threat. "You seriously thought after everything I've done to try to find this thing, I'm just gonna hand it over? Like it's just some piece of junk?"

He held it up between his fingers for her to see. It was small – around the size of a large marble – egg-shaped and perfectly smooth. The way it glowed and shined seemed unnatural, almost off-putting, and Aerrow found himself trying hard not to look at it too much.

"This thing is going to get me home," said Edward, "and put me and my brother back to normal if it has enough juice left. And you know what? There's nothing you can do about it because both of us are leaving. Right now."

Aerrow took that as his cue to swipe the Master's legs out from underneath her and, while she was on the ground trying to figure out what just happened, he leapt up, grabbed Edward's arm and dragged him to the door. He paused, grabbed the chicken that had followed them in and threw it at Cyclonis, hitting her in the face just as she got up again. Edward pulled him through the door and together they ran for their lives down the corridor, only stopping once they were around the corner, where they slumped against the wall and tried to catch their breaths.

"Well," said Aerrow, rubbing his still-sore neck, "that was… a thing."

"Are you okay?" asked Edward. "Sorry I let her choke you like that. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to hold up the bluff. Guess she fell for it hook, line and sinker if she really believed I was just gonna give this thing to her."

He held up the stone for Aerrow to see.

"Wow," the redhead muttered. "It's… I kinda thought it would be bigger, but..."

"I know, right?" Edward responded, grinning joyfully at what he had created. "I never even imagined what it would be like to actually have it but… this is it, I…"

He looked like he was about to start crying again.

"…I finally did it," he said weakly, gazing dreamily at the stone he held. "I finally found the Philosopher's Stone. I can go home, I-I can put Alphonse back to normal… I can get my arm and my leg back… we can have normal lives again, just like… like before Mom died…"

His smile could have out-dazzled the sun.

"You could've at least winked at me or something," Aerrow pointed out. "Back there? You know, just some sign that you were bluffing so I didn't actually consider stopping you?"

"No sign I gave you would've gone beyond her notice," said Edward. "And anyway-"

He was cut off by the crackling hiss of an activating microphone.

"May I have your attention, Cyclonia?" the Master's voice echoed throughout the entire terra. "You may be interested to hear that we have some intruders in our midst. One of them, should you see them, you may recognise as Aerrow, the infamous leader of the Storm Hawks. I don't think I have to inform you all of what _they _have done. The other is an insolent and insensitive little brat who has denied me my right to rule the Atmos."

"Oh crap," Edward muttered, too shocked to complain about the remark on his height.

"Anyone who brings these two to my office will receive a full promotion and a week's paid leave on any terra they desire," Cyclonis continued. "I would appreciate it if they were brought to me before the day is out."

Aerrow frowned angrily. He could just envision her casually checking her nails while she said this, like putting a hit out on people was something she did every day.

"Oh," she added, "and one more thing: while I would prefer them to be brought to me alive, it isn't entirely necessary. Happy hunting…"

With that, the announcement ended.

"Welp, no point in hiding anymore," Edward said. He clapped his hands and, in a flash, he and Aerrow were returned to their normal clothes.

"I guess there's only one thing we can do now," Aerrow said grimly.

"I think I can figure out what that is."

"Yep. Run like hell."

So they set off again, sprinting full-throttle through the corridors, sliding around corners and ducking and weaving around the soldiers they encountered. At one point a Talon stood right in the centre of the corridor, trying to block their path, but Edward leapfrogged over his head while Aerrow jumped down and slid between his legs, and in a split second they were running again.

"I gotta say," Aerrow said as they ran, "I've never wondered what it's like to be wanted like this, but-"

"Trust me; it's never a good experience!" Edward interjected. "Let's just get back to your ride and GET THE HELL OUT OF THIS SHITHOLE!"

They turned another corner and found themselves in the same corridor where they had brushed with the Dark Ace. It was obvious, since this was the only corridor they'd come across which had a janitor's closet with a dented door.

"Can we stop for a second?" asked Edward. "I just need to catch my breath."

Aerrow skidded to a halt while his companion almost fell over, gasping for air.

"I don't wanna… do too many… transmutations," he panted. "Don't wanna… risk using… the Stone's power… _haa_…"

"We don't have far to go," said Aerrow, "and nobody's caught us so far. If this goes according to plan, we might actually make it out of here!"

"Oh, I'm afraid you're nowhere near correct about that, _Aerrow_."

The Sky Knight scowled in rage and the alchemist's eyes widened in fear as they turned around to face their new opponent.

The Dark Ace strode confidently towards them, smiling smugly as he unsheathed his sword. Aerrow drew his own blades and adopted a defensive stance.

"I thought there was something familiar about those two Talons I encountered earlier," said the Dark Ace as he activated his own weapon. "I should have cut you down right then and there. Still, better late than never!"

He brought his sword down on Aerrow, who only barely managed to block it with his energy blades, and even then the attack was so strong that he was forced to his knees under the weapon's weight.

"Edward, get out of here," he commanded calmly.

"Are you sure you can-" Edward started.

"Just RUN!" Aerrow yelled.

No further hesitation. Edward dashed away in the direction of the hatchway they had used as an entrance.

While the teen was distracted, the Dark Ace kicked Aerrow in the chest, sending him flying several feet and landing on his back on the floor. He quickly jumped to his feet, ready to resume the battle.

"So what happened to your face?" the Dark Ace asked casually, holding his weapon erect. "Looks like I'm not the only one who wants a piece of you."

"I've been trying other people," said Aerrow, "but don't worry: you'll always be the one I wanna take down the most."

The Dark Ace laughed.

"Not unless I take you first!"

He sprang forward, slashing with his sword, but Aerrow deflected the blow and carried this action into a spin, which he finished by swiping scissor-style at his opponent with his energy blades, but the Dark Ace jumped back, flipped over on a single hand and charged again.

"Show-off," muttered Aerrow, but he had to focus again as the Dark Ace brought his blade up from below, and only just managed to block it with his own weapons.

"It's still far better than anything you'll be able to achieve, you immature brat!" the Dark Ace snarled, and pulled back for another attack.

* * *

><p>Edward ran onward in a blur of rage.<p>

How in any kind of hell could Aerrow expect to fight that guy on his own? _How?!_ The man was practically twice his size and had a sword that could probably smash a diamond in half! And Aerrow seriously thought he could take him on?

Of course, he was probably a much more capable fighter than Edward had seen, as admittedly he hadn't seen a lot him in fights, but it was still a very worrying thought.

He saw some Talons up ahead, trying to block his path.

"Stop right there, shorty!" one of them shouted.

"No use trying to get past us, little guy!" another taunted.

"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY FUCKING WAY!" Edward responded as loudly as possible.

Screaming at the top of his lungs, much like he had during his first flight, he pulled back his fists and jumped, punching straight through the human blockade like some sort of demented superhero, rolled head-over-heels along the ground and continued running as if nothing had happened.

His way clear, Edward was free to swing into the nearby door and wrench the hatch open. He could see the parked skimmer waiting for him down below, his brilliant red coat still draped over it, clearly waiting for him to retrieve it.

And he was very tempted to leap on and ride away, but…

He looked back over his shoulder.

Could Aerrow really hold his own against that guy, the Dark Ace, supposedly one of the toughest on this whole terra?

Edward's grip tightened on the hatch and he growled quietly in frustration.

That boy had gone out of his way to get him here, to find what he needed to make the Philosopher's Stone, and still had yet to ask for anything in return. And now he was holding off some kind of Mustang-type badass to buy him time to escape, in spite of all the prior belligerence Edward had dished out to him.

What a noble, heroic, brave-hearted _moron_.

Could he really abandon him like that?

With his teeth gritted, Edward jumped down into the hatchway.

* * *

><p>The blow sent Aerrow's energy blades flying out of his hands, and he was left to shield himself with only his arms as the Dark Ace fired at him with his sword with enough force to send him flying down the rest of the corridor and crashing into the wall hard enough to dent it. Dazed, he slid down to the floor.<p>

Before he had a chance to get up, his adversary was upon him: the Dark Ace dug the tip of his sword into the wall beside Aerrow's shoulder and leaned the blade across his neck, and held him down with a foot on his thigh.

"If my hand were to slip right now," he said, quiet and sinister, "I could take your head off your shoulders in a heartbeat. Do you think I should savour this moment now that I finally have you exactly where I want you? Or would you prefer me to end you now?"

Aerrow glanced down at the blade at his throat. If it stayed there any longer it was probably going to burn his neck.

"Knowing you," he said, "you'll just drag it out for as long as possible and give me time to recover and beat you."

The Dark Ace grimaced in distaste. He yanked his sword out of the wall and backhanded Aerrow across the face with enough force to send him a further ten feet down the corridor before he finally slid to a halt. A sharp sting and hot wetness on his cheek informed the Sky Knight that his cut had reopened again.

"I've been waiting for this day for longer than I can recall," the Dark Ace said as he walked over to where Aerrow lay, not knowing whether to get up or not. "The chance to finally finish you off so I never have to see your face again."

He pointed his weapon at Aerrow's face.

"You're just like _him_," he said, practically spitting the final word. "And you haven't even realised, have you?"

Aerrow stared up at him, brows furrowed in confusion.

"Who?" he asked. "Who're you talking about?"

The Dark Ace frowned.

"You should know," he said, his voice betraying his bafflement. "You don't remember him?"

"Remember who?!" Aerrow demanded. "What the hell are you talki-"

He was cut off when the Dark Ace kicked him viciously in the stomach, and he curled inward, gasping for breath and clutching his body.

"It's of little consequence," he commented, and raised his sword once again. "Sorry to cut our little discussion short, but your time has just run out."

"_I DON'T THINK SO!_"

Before either fighters had time to react, the Dark Ace was practically blasted down the corridor by a blur of red, black and gold that seemed to move almost at the speed of sound.

Aerrow stared, slack-jawed, as Edward, foot now removed from the Talon Commander's face, gracefully flipped backwards and landed in a crouch on the floor, his coat billowing out and settling around him in a manner that could only be described as over-dramatic.

'Edward…" Aerrow propped himself up on his shoulders. "I thought you-"

"DON'T YOU _EVER_ TELL ME TO JUST RUN OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIGHT AGAIN!" Edward shouted. "DO YOU HEAR ME?!"

"Okay, okay! Jeez…" said Aerrow as they both stood up. "If you wanted to join in that badly, you could've told me. There's plenty to go 'round."

"You said this guy was one of the toughest here," Edward recounted as the Dark Ace started getting up. "I don't care if you two have a history. You're my ticket out of here and you've got people waiting for you. You really think I'm about to leave you here?"

Aerrow almost laughed.

"Wow," he said. "For a moment there, I almost thought you were beginning to like me."

"Yeah, well," said Edward as he raised his fists, "we've got other things to worry about right now."

Having straightened up, the Dark Ace levelled his sword at the pair.

"Two against one, then?" he asked. "No matter: I can take you both!"

He charged at Aerrow and Edward, who strengthened their stance rather than moving, and only had to glance at one another to know that they were both thinking the same thing.

When he reached them, they ducked down to avoid the blow and simultaneously punched him in the stomach, then moved upwards and whammed his back with their elbows. However, the Dark Ace still refused to fall down, but when he turned to attack again he was greeted by two fists being thrown full-force into his face, which probably wouldn't have knocked him out were it not for one of them being made of reinforced steel.

As it was, he collapsed and didn't get up again.

Aerrow and Edward finally had a proper chance to catch their breaths.

"That didn't take as long as I'd expected," Edward commented.

"I wasn't going to let him finish first," said Aerrow. "Let's go before he gets up!"

* * *

><p>The Sky Knight threw the hatch open and jumped down, foregoing the standard method of ladder descent by simply grabbing the sides of the implement and sliding down, all the way to the bottom as though he were a budget firefighter. The alchemist didn't take long to follow, but not far from the top he pressed his hands together and then laid them on the ladder, which started disintegrating just as quickly as he slid down what was left of its length.<p>

"I doubt they'd follow us that way," Aerrow said as they mounted his ride.

"I'm not taking any chances!" said Edward.

Aerrow didn't wait any longer. He revved up the engine and zoomed through the pipe, leaning almost horizontally across his handlebars while Edward held onto the sidecar as tightly as he could without breaking it. It wasn't long before they were out of the pipe and dropping down towards the Wastelands, at which point Edward deployed the wings as before and they returned to ducking and weaving through the dangers of the volcanic expanse.

"That could've gone worse!" Aerrow said happily. "I'll admit it probably could've gone a lot better, but not only did we escape without getting hurt but we actually got the Philosopher's Stone! You'll be able to go home and see your family again! Isn't that great?"

"Yeah, it's awesome!" Edward replied. "Just so long as we're not-"

A bolt of energy shot past, almost knocking them out of the air, and Aerrow had to duck and swerve wildly to avoid getting hit.

"-followed," Edward finished uselessly as they looked back.

A small platoon of Talons was following them, veering from side-to-side every now and again to avoid the Wasteland's explosive hazards, and they were levelling their staves for another attack.

"Crud," Aerrow muttered, and pulled up.

"Wait, what're you doing?!" Edward spluttered. "If you go up to above the clouds we'll be sitting ducks!"

"I know," said Aerrow, "but they will be too."

They rose above the clouds as the blood-red sky receded once again into bright blue, with their pursuers popping up behind them with little trails of vapour streaming from their ride's wings.

"Ever flown one of these things before?" asked Aerrow as he drew one of his knives and fired uselessly at the Talons.

"Wai-wh… WHAT?!" yelled Edward in shock. "You can't seriously be suggesting what I think you're suggesting!"

"Oh, I am!" Aerrow said cheerfully. "I'll be abandoning my ride in a few seconds to fight these guys so you're gonna have to take the wheel while I'm off. It's not too hard: it's like riding a bicycle!"

"Well, I never properly got the hang of bicycles!" Edward replied. "I swear, if you just jump off-"

"I'm not just gonna jump off!"

"Oh, thank god."

"Not since you broke my glider that night you robbed the Beacon Tower. Gimme a sec!"

He pulled up again, moving almost vertically upwards, while Edward clung to the sidecar and screamed out his terror once again.

"And since I don't have my glider," Aerrow said, drawing both of his knives, "I'm gonna have to find some other means of propulsion."

He looked at his blades.

"Yeah," he said, "this ought to work!"

"What ought to work?!" asked Edward desperately. "Shouldn't you be looking where you're going? We're still going up, you know! At a pretty damn alarming rate!"

"Good," said Aerrow. "That should give me more distance! Don't worry: just keep your grip on the handles, you should find steering easy enough, and use the pedals down there for extra speed. Be right back!"

Without waiting for Edward to speak again, he jumped off his skimmer while simultaneously firing his energy blades into it – not with enough power to damage it, but enough to push him further through the air than he would otherwise have travelled. And suddenly he was flying, mostly in a downwards direction but definitely moving towards the Cyclonians.

"YOU SON OF A _**BITCH!**_" Edward screamed at his retreating form.

He knew that if he didn't jump into the saddle soon, he'd be jumping into a hole six-feet deep, but at the same time he didn't want to risk losing his grip entirely and falling to a different kind of untimely demise.

Maybe if he moved slowly enough he'd be okay, and he could get to where he needed to be without putting his life in even more unspeakable danger than it was in already…

…but no. Of course things couldn't go his way.

As he was reaching for the handlebars, the skimmer reached the height of its arc and leaned backwards, and with one hand removed Edward lost his grip on the sidecar and both of them started to fall. It started to spiral, spinning around and around and threatening to bat the alchemist out into the great beyond, and while he was trying his absolute hardest not to panic (which was definitely no small feat) his arms flailed wildly as he tried to get a grip on the handlebars.

"Come on…" he desperately gasped.

Somehow – he wasn't entirely sure how – he managed to hook a finger over one of the handles and drag his body downwards, to the point that he actually managed to grab hold of both and pull himself into the seat.

What was it Aerrow had said? The pedals for extra propulsion… this would be so much easier if his body could only be stretched out a little bit…

Crap, had he just called himself small?!

Never mind. He'd worry about that later.

By wrenching the handlebars in the opposite direction he somehow managed to correct the spiralling, and dug down as far as he could to reach the pedals.

True to Aerrow's word, the engines flared and Edward leaned back as far as he could and before he knew it, he was rising. When he was a reasonable distance above the lowest cloud layer, he lifted his feet off the pedals and realised he had levelled out.

Heh. Maybe this wasn't as difficult as he'd realised. There seemed to be a certain liberty that came with flying like this, the wind in his hair and beating against his face…

Alphonse would _love_ this.

He quickly checked his pocket. He still had the Philosopher's Stone, thank god. He didn't want to have come this far only to lose it to the nightmarish Wastelands now.

But when he looked back up, his expression turned to one of shock when he saw two equally-surprised Talons headed straight for him. Without a second thought he wrenched the skimmer to one side with enough force to send it into another spin, ripping through the Cyclonians like a hurricane before levelling out again. When he noticed the blood-red clouds drawing closer he pulled _hard_ on the right handlebar to turn away and fly in the opposite direction.

"Okay," he panted, as the pounding of his heart was leaving him exhausted. "Gotta get this under control. I don't want any more goddamn surprises, this is hard enough!"

He saw, out of the corner of his eye, somebody landing on the skimmer's wing.

But it wasn't Aerrow.

Unfortunately.

"Then I'm afraid I'm about to ruin your day," said the Dark Ace as he casually approached, trailing his deactivated sword along the plating and probably leaving a deep scratch in the chrome.

Edward tried his hardest to pay attention to flying, but he couldn't take his eyes off this man who seemed at least five times as large as him now that they were under the sun.

"Your name is Edward, isn't it?" said the Dark Ace. "It's an unusual name, I'll admit, but I suppose it's as good as any."

"What? And 'Dark Ace' is somehow better?" asked Edward.

"Shut your mouth!" the tall man shouted, having apparently not forgotten what had happened back at his HQ. "The reason I'm here is because my Master wishes to make you an offer. If you were trained in the correct way, you could be an excellent asset to her cause."

Edward gritted his teeth and scowled with all his might.

"All she wants is for you to turn yourself in and hand over the Philosopher's Stone," the Dark Ace continued, "and you will never want for anything for the rest of your life. Interested?"

Before he replied, Edward removed his right glove, stashed it in his pocket and pulled up his sleeves.

"Do I even have to say the word 'no'?" he asked.

He clapped, then placed his left hand on his right forearm and drew out the plating to a deadly razor-sharp point that reach past his hand.

"She also told me," said the Dark Ace, raising and activating his sword, "that if you refused I was to take back your head!"

"Sorry, pal," said Edward, "but you remind me a little too much of somebody I REALLY DON'T LIKE!"

* * *

><p>Although he wouldn't have been the first to admit it, Aerrow was having the time of his life.<p>

Using blasts from his energy blades to give himself a little extra push, he propelled his body from one Cyclonian ride to another, and every single Talon he confronted had a hilarious expression of terror and disbelief on his face as he bailed from his smoking vehicle and parachuted to safety.

When he landed on the next one, he only had to smile and raise his eyebrow in as cocky a manner as he could manage, and the poor man screamed like a little girl and dived out into the clouds. Aerrow decided to hijack the skimmer and flew until he was directly over another, who looked up and gaped in shock. He retracted the wings, causing the ride to fall right down onto the one below it, and used the resultant blast to give his body an extra boost and landed on the ride of yet another, who didn't seem to see or hear him until he grabbed his collar and threw him to one side. Needless to say, he was pretty shocked.

Being without a glider was giving the redhead a sense of urgency that he didn't think he'd ever felt before, and he'd probably never feel it again. His heart was pounding out of his chest, his body was buzzing with adrenaline, oh god, the _rush…_

And now he was going to have even more fun.

He looked around and saw about three more pursuing him, snarling in anger, probably trying to look scary. So he turned about and started flying straight at the one in the centre, narrowing his eyes and smiling wickedly.

He didn't have anything to worry about. Cyclonians always blinked first.

He revved the engine for a little extra speed as the Talon's confidence started to fade, and he dived off his ride just in time for the skimmer Aerrow was riding to reach it and crash into it, with the Sky Knight in question once again using the explosion to blow his body onto another's ride, this one a heliscooter. He grabbed its chassis and the vehicle spun over and over to one side on its propeller, with the hapless pilot screaming wildly until he lost his grip and was thrown off to the side, at which point Aerrow boarded it and started flying to his final target.

However, at that moment, he just so happened to glance down.

And this was where he saw Edward trying, and quite clearly failing, to hold his own against _him_.

His mind raced. What could he do? Edward wasn't used to flying, something the Dark Ace seemed to realise and be taking advantage of it from what he could tell, and if they kept up like this the ride would lose control and crash.

He looked back to the last Talon left, who was eyeing him warily.

Okay. This would take some careful timing. And if he didn't nail the angle with expert precision he'd be sent flying into the Wastelands.

Just a little closer…

He concentrated, once again feeling that energy, that electricity, flowing through his body like a river and pouring into his weapons as he drew them and held them as tightly as he dared.

Just as the heliscooter collided with the skimmer and the Talon jumped for his life, Aerrow released the power he had been building and fired right into the vehicles, and then he too was diving downwards, but the shockwave of the explosion was propelling him in the exact direction he had been hoping for.

Wouldn't be long now.

* * *

><p>The Dark Ace slapped Edward's arm aside and pushed him down with a foot on his chest, dangerously close to his neck, and held him there with his sword in the boy's face.<p>

"I'd be interested in hearing how somebody who fights as pathetically as you would be able to evade my master," he said. "Not to mention somebody so pitifully small."

"DON'T CALL ME SMALL!" Edward screamed. "I'LL RIP YOUR EYES OUT OF YOUR FACE AND SHOVE THEM SO FAR DOWN YOUR THROAT YOU'LL BE SEEING OUT YOUR ASSHOLE!"

He would have ranted more, but the Dark Ace held the point of his sword dangerously close to his chin and he leaned back, whimpering in fright.

"You're wishing your friend was here, aren't you?" the tall man asked. "You're hoping he's just going to drop down out of the sky to save you, am I correct? But from what I can tell, he's abandoned you. So I'm afraid this is where it ends for you, _alchemist_."

Something landed on the back end of the skimmer.

"Aww," said the voice of Aerrow. "So you _do_ think about me!"

When the Dark Ace looked up, Aerrow was brandishing his blades just as he always did and smiling that same confident and cocky smile that would easily make somebody sick.

"And how about you lay off him before I do something I might regret?" he asked not-so-politely.

The Dark Ace scowled in anger.

But then he looked down to the right, and smiled rather smugly.

"What're you so happy about?" Aerrow demanded.

"You'll see," the Dark Ace replied. "If you survive, that is."

And then he stepped off the skimmer, carving into its side with his immense sword and sending sparks and red-hot scraps of metal flying everywhere, before activating his glider and soaring away.

"SHIT!" yelled Edward in shock.

Aerrow jumped down into the saddle, grabbed the handlebars and tried desperately to pull up, having to lean over the alchemist in a rather awkward position.

"I can't keep it up much longer!" he cried as they started leaning to the right. "We gotta find some place to land!"

"Down there!" shouted Edward, pointing at a terra further down in the clouds to which they were headed at an alarming speed. "Don't let us die, Flyboy!"

He threw himself forward and latched onto the Sky Knight's body, and Aerrow hurled their combined weights into steering towards the terra, which loomed towards them like a dark grey monster.

"We're gonna crash!" Aerrow shouted. "BRACE YOURSELF!"

The skimmer bounced as it hit the ground and both teens were thrown off, and the crashing and splintering of metal combined with Edward's terrified screams were the last things Aerrow heard before he was engulfed in blackness.

* * *

><p><strong>DUN DUN DUUUUUUN<strong>

**Sorry this took so long. I got wrapped up in a new drawing and it kinda distracted me. I've already finished the next chapter but I'm not going to upload it immediately because that would make it seem a little too rushed or crowded or whatever.**

**I will admit that Aerrow using blasts from his energy blades and explosions from skimmers to propel his body from place to place and carry out that fight was inspired by the gunshot-propellant fighting styles employed in RWBY, which I have recently become very interested in and quite a fan of. The biggest difference I think is that the fights in Storm Hawks are 3-dimensional, with characters going up and down as well as across, which if anything makes them that much more fun to watch and experience and that much more difficult to visualize and write :/**

**I tried to fill the fight between Aerrow and the Dark Ace with as much innuendo as I could. I don't really ship it, but I did want to have some fun and I hope you all had fun reading it. It's definitely a lot more blatant in some parts than it is in others.**

**Reviews are most welcome!**


	12. Chapter 12

Pain was no stranger to Aerrow. Far from it. It was something he'd had to get used to in his life as a Sky Knight and he knew he would be an idiot if he didn't come to expect it. He was fighting, after all. Of course he would get hurt.

But now there was pain all over his body and it was unbearable. If it didn't stop soon, he could die just from the agony alone.

No. He had to power through this. It was just pain. It alone couldn't kill him.

That which was causing the pain, however...

It was hard, but he managed to open his eyes just a little.

Still daylight. Good. How long had he been unconscious? No, that didn't matter. What mattered was finding out where he was, locating Edward and them returning to the Condor ASAP.

He tried to move his left arm, but it wouldn't respond. He could still feel it but for some reason couldn't move it, like it was disconnected from his body. And when he tried to move his right arm-

Ow!

The extra sharp stab of pain jolted all of his senses back to their normal level of functioning and he looked to the side, and almost choked when he saw what was left of his skimmer pinning his right arm to the ground. He looked down at his left arm and saw it dangling limply off his body and no matter how many times he told his fingers or hand to move or tried to force them to move, they wouldn't.

He was trapped and had no way of getting out. His breath caught in his throat on the way down and he found himself panting, struggling to get enough air to-

"Panic and I'm gonna leave you there."

He looked round and sighed in relief as Edward approached, carrying a solid-looking branch over his shoulder. He was relatively unhurt save for a bruise on his forehead and his black clothes, currently not obscured by the red coat hanging around his shoulders, were covered in dust.

"Edward," said Aerrow, slumping to the ground. "Man, am I glad to see you. Are you okay?"

"More or less."

The alchemist gave Aerrow a hard, rough kick in the arm and the redhead screamed in shock and pain.

"Ow!" he cried. "Edward, what- What did you do that for?"

"Don't bother thanking me," said Edward flatly, "it's not like I just fixed your dislocated shoulder or anything."

"Huh?" Aerrow tried to move his hand again. It still hurt and was rather stiff, but it was mobile and that was what mattered.

A sudden thump made him flinch - while he was testing his hand, Edward had rolled over a large blackened rock and dumped it on the ground next to the skimmer's remains. He shoved the branch under the metal and pressed it over the rock a couple of times to make sure it wouldn't slip off.

"I'm gonna try to lift this thing off you," he said. "The moment you're clear, you get the hell out of there, understand?"

Aerrow nodded frantically, eager to be free.

Edward took a deep breath and pressed down on the branch with all his might, relying exclusively on his left arm for some reason. It was working though: Aerrow could feel air on his arm, the pressure was lifting and the pain not so strong anymore. Behind him, Edward put his leg on the branch for some extra power, but the wood was beginning to crack under the pressure.

"Just a bit more," Aerrow said to encourage him. "I'm almost... there!"

He scrambled out to freedom just as the branch snapped into two and Edward fell to his knees in exhaustion, gasping for breath.

"Are you..." he panted, "are you... alright... Aerrow?"

"Ye-" Aerrow started.

What had the alchemist just called him?

"I'm sorry," said Edward. "It took me ages to find something stiff enough. If both my arms were in working condition, I could've transmuted that thing straight off you, but my automail got pretty banged up in the crash."

He lifted up his sleeve and revealed the metal limb for Aerrow to see. Now back in its original bladeless shape, the plating had scratches and dents all over it and the limb looked rather crooked at the elbow.

"If I try to transmute," he said, "I'll probably dislocate my own elbow."

"That sucks, but you just..." said Aerrow.

"I just what?"

"You called me by my name. You never call me by my name; it's always 'Flyboy'."

Edward just smiled.

"Can you let me see your other arm?" he asked.

He knelt down next to Aerrow and felt along his arm - Aerrow winced, but didn't scream, or at least tried his best to avoid it. It was _so_ disturbing to feel his own bones moving inside his arm. If he ever made a list of the most unpleasant experiences in his life, this would probably be near the top.

"Hang on."

That was all the warning he got before Edward pulled hard on his arm, straightening it out with a series of nasty cracks and bringing forth another cry of pain from Aerrow's throat.

"Broken in multiple places," said the alchemist. "Sorry, I had to get it all back into position. Gonna have to find something to splint it."

He looked around at their surroundings.

"You ever been to this place before?" he asked.

Aerrow looked up. Not far away was a miniature forest of twisted, corrupted-looking trees with the ruins of a small village visible between the trunks. It quite resembled Terra Aquanos in that there were huge rocky cliffs on all sides, casting a long shadow across that which it surrounded, save for a very wide gap they were facing and had apparently entered from. The ground bore a thick coating of soft grey dust which the Sky Knight quickly realised was ash.

"No," he said. "Nothing looks familiar."

"Maybe we should take a look around, see if there's anything we can use to signal for help."

"Yeah. Can you help me up?"

Edward pulled Aerrow to his feet, the Sky Knight's face contorting in discomfort, and they set off to explore the terra.

The ground was ash as far as the eye could see, and when it was brushed away it revealed dead and rotting grass. The trees were all blackened but had somehow stayed alive and kept growing, though their leaves were almost frighteningly dark. It got worse when they came to the village: not a single building stood complete or unburnt, ash was deeply engrained in the cobbled square, the lampposts appeared to have melted slightly and the fountain in the centre of the square was completely blackened and bone dry.

None of it was familiar to either of them in the slightest way.

So why did Aerrow get such a strong feeling of déjà vu?

He looked into the fountain and saw little pieces of half-melted metal sitting there, long since abandoned-

-_turned around, closed his eyes, tossed the coin over his shoulder and wished with all his might that Dad would come home to see him soon_-

-what?

What was that?

"It's a real shame," said Edward from what sounded like forever away. "This place must've been pretty nice once."

"Yeah," a distracted Aerrow said mindlessly.

He kept looking around and his gaze fell upon a particular house set on a little side street. It was completely burnt out, just like the others, but Aerrow found himself strangely drawn to it-

-_holding on tightly to his fathers' fingers as he moved his shaky legs, gently resting one foot down in front of the other and amazing himself with his own strength_-

-there it was again. A weird image drawn to the forefront of his mind. But why?

What did it mean?

He rounded the corner of the house and froze.

The house may have been destroyed, but the garden was still in use. Around twenty five or so crosses were sticking up out of the ground behind low mounds of rocks and/or dirt, and for some reason the young Sky Knight found himself oddly saddened by the sight. He didn't know why - it was a graveyard, and death was a tragedy no matter who it affected - but this particular one twisted something in his stomach. He felt sad, angry and sick all at the same time.

But why?!

"Hey, Aerrow!"

Edward's shout snapped him back to reality.

"Get over here, would you?" the alchemist yelled. "I found some stuff to splint your arm!"

Glad to have an excuse to leave, Aerrow walked over to where Edward was waiting by the blackened fountain holding a few strips of cloth obviously torn from the bottom of his vest and a selection of short thick sticks.

"Hold out your arm," said the blonde. "It's probably gonna hurt, but it'll be way worse if we just leave it."

Aerrow obediently laid his fractured limb down on the dark stone, hand facing down, and Edward placed the sticks on top and tied them at the elbow, and again at the half-way point and his wrist. He avoided using his automail and instead pulled on one of the ends with his teeth, which unfortunately were quite a bit stronger than his fingers.

"Ow, watch it!"

"Sorry, but it needs to be tight or else it doesn't work."

Edward tied off the final strip of cloth which tightly bound the two sturdy sticks to Aerrow's broken arm. The redhead in question flexed his fingers experimentally; it was easier to move and a little less painful. He rested it on the side of the frazzled fountain.

"Thanks again," he said. "I wish I was used to being so badly hurt."

"You mean in all your time fighting and battling Cyclonians and whatnot, you've never broken a single bone?" Edward asked incredulously.

"Well, uh... not in battle, no."

"So, by other means? What, did you slip on a wet floor or something?"

"Um..." Aerrow's face flushed bright scarlet. "Actually... yeah."

Edward snorted.

"Man, you're a klutz," he commented as he stood up.

"What, you've never done anything similar?" asked Aerrow as he too got to his feet.

"Ha, no way!" Edward laughed. "Never really had any opportunities."

Aerrow smiled briefly, but then he found his gaze drawn back to the house by the graveyard and he didn't know why. He'd never seen this place before in his life.

Had he?

It looked... _kinda_ familiar...

"Hey, are you sure you're alright?" asked Edward. "You said you've never been here before, didn't you?"

"No, I haven't!" Aerrow insisted. "I haven't, I'm sure of it, but... there's _something_..."

"Whoa, careful!"

Edward only just managed to catch the taller boy on his shoulder before he fell down.

"You must've hit your head or something-" he suggested, but was cut off when Aerrow muttered something incoherent.

"What was that?" he asked.

Aerrow stared at him with his green eyes brimming with desperation, and managed to choke out five audible words:

"_Get me away from here_."

So Edward started running, all but dragging the taller boy after him; Aerrow tried to walk, but his feet were fumbling and clumsy on the soft powder-covered ground and he couldn't stop slipping.

Once they were clear of the frazzled trees and back at the crash site, Edward's strength failed and he practically dropped the injured Sky Knight to the ground (luckily he had a soft landing) and immediately collapsed next to him, struggling to catch his breath.

The sun moved behind the massive cliff walls and left the entire terra shrouded in shadows, and both boys could have sworn the temperature instantly dropped.

"Sorry about that," Aerrow said after a short while. "I don't know what came over me; I just… just suddenly didn't want to be there."

"Yeah," said Edward, "I kinda guessed."

He sat up and looked around again, as though he had expected the landscape to change somehow when they were gone, which it hadn't.

"So what're we supposed to do?" he asked. "Just sit and wait for the rest of your buddies to come and find us?"

Aerrow struggled to his knees and crawled over to his skimmer, then pressed a button and started speaking into it.

"Storm Hawks, come in," he said. "This is Aerrow and Edward. We've crash-landed on an unpopulated terra not far from Cyclonia and are in need of medical assistance, requesting an immediate pick-up."

He waited for a reply, but all he got was static.

"Storm Hawks, come in!" he repeated desperately. "This is Aerrow and Edward requesting immediate assistance. Do you read?"

There was still no reply. Behind him Edward got to his feet.

"Storm Hawks, come IN!" Aerrow shouted frantically. "Piper! Stork? Radarr! Can anyone hear me? Do you read?!"

"It's no good," said Edward. "They're either out of range or these dumbass cliffs are blocking the signal – could even be a combination of both – and if that's the only means of communication we have then we are officially stuck."

Aerrow activated his radio one last time.

"Can… anyone…" he said weakly.

He sat back with a sigh of resignation, and would probably have punched the floor in frustration if it hadn't meant massive amounts of agony in either of his arms.

"I guess I'll go and find some wood that could start a fire," Edward said with an almost bizarre air of calmness. "Looks like it could get dark soon, and I'm not looking forward to freezing my ass off out here."

He moved towards the woods, but stopped when he saw that Aerrow hadn't budged in the slightest; he quickly realised that he would have been an idiot to expect anything else, not to mention tactless.

"Hey," he said, "you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, I…" Aerrow wasn't sure what to say. "I guess I'm just… well… just not used to being out of contact. They're my best friends and…"

Something fabric-like landed on his head and draped itself over his back. When he looked, confused at the sudden appearance of an extra garment, he saw that it was bright red.

"If they really are as awesome as anyone would expect the defenders of a whole world to be, I think they'd be more than capable of finding their leader," Edward pointed out. "You do have faith in them, don't you?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" Aerrow replied.

"Then what're you worried about?" asked Edward with a smile.

"I'm worried about the fact that Cyclonis is probably going to send her goons after us again to make sure we're goners," said Aerrow, "and with my arms injured and you unable to transmute… you're the alchemist, do the math!"

Edward's smile fell.

"Well, uh," he said slowly, "I'm sure we can figure something out. You gonna help me find some wood to burn or what?"

Aerrow nodded and reluctantly got to his feet, pulling the coat from his shoulders as he rose.

* * *

><p>"Aerrow, can you hear me?" Piper almost shouted into the radio. "Aerrow, come in! Radarr, try adjusting the frequency a little more!"<p>

Radarr twisted the tuning knob a little to the left.

"Aerrow, Edward, are you there?" said Piper. "Please respond! Radarr, do it again, I think I heard something!"

"Piper, you've been doing that for _hours_," Finn said, exhausted and slumping in his seat. "Don't you think they would've picked up by now?"

"We have to keep trying!" Piper insisted.

"They're probably out of range," Junko suggested with a frown. "Either that or something's blocking the signal."

"In any case, you should probably give it a rest," said Finn. "You're starting to look crazy!"

Piper shared a glance with Radarr, whose eyes were filled with fear. She sighed despondently and hanged the receiver on its hook.

"I'm sorry, Radarr," she said, "but they're right."

Radarr let out a pitiful and sad whine.

"Back by sundown, he said," Finn said bitterly as Piper packed the radio away. "Not gonna be a problem, he said. Gonna be a piece of cake, he said."

"Do you think they're okay?" asked Junko.

"They're fine," said Piper, even though she didn't sound totally convinced. "This is Aerrow we're talking about here, remember? And if Edward really is as tough as he says, then he's most likely alright too. They're gonna be okay. I bet they'll be back here by the end of the hour."

Radarr didn't look any happier at this assurance as he let out a pitiful, worried little whine.

"Don't worry about it, little guy," said Finn. "They're totally cool!"

"But what if they're not?" Junko asked. "What if they got caught? They could be locked up in a Cyclonian dungeon about to be executed or-or they could've been shot down or crashed in the Wastelands or they could've been shot down _and_ crashed in the Wastelands! What if… what if they didn't make it?"

None of the group quite knew how to respond.

Junko had a valid point. What if they _hadn't_ made it out of Cyclonia? And even if they had, there was no telling they hadn't crashed or come under attack. They could be stranded somewhere, lost and confused and trying desperately to get word out.

And what if they were hurt?

It was almost eleven at night. Surely if they had succeeded, they would have made contact by now.

Right?

"Um, I hate to break down the fear factory," said Stork, "but we've got a whole new horror to add to the production line."

"What is it?" asked Piper.

"Take a look and see for yourself," Stork said, gesturing to the periscope.

Radarr scampered over and pulled it down, and when he looked through he let out a loud squawk of fright that prompted Finn to take his place.

"Oh crap," he swore.

The bright moonlight glowed against the cloud layer, meaning that it was worryingly easy to see the large platoon of dark figures flying under the Condor and thankfully ignoring it.

"Nightcrawlers," Finn said. "It's Nightcrawlers! Looks like there's twenty… maybe thirty of them, there's loads!"

"SSH!" Stork hissed. "Do you really want to draw attention to us?"

"Where are they going?" asked Junko, and he and Piper ran over to take a look.

"I dunno," said Finn, "but with that many, it can't be good."

Piper twisted the periscope this way and that, trying to get a good look.

"They're headed north-west," she reported. "I don't think they've even noticed we're here."

"We should be glad of that," said Stork, "and hope it stays that way!"

"What do you wanna bet they're headed off to get our Sky Knight?" asked Finn.

The Storm Hawks didn't reply. Each knew the other was thinking exactly the same thing.

"We gotta chase them!" cried Junko.

"That won't be easy, it's too dark and too risky to take our rides," Piper pointed out.

The boys all turned to her with faces of terror and pleading.

"But that doesn't mean we can't still chase them," she finished. "Stork, follow those Nightcrawlers!"

* * *

><p>"What?" cried Edward. "You're kidding! You're kidding, right? Right?!"<p>

"I wish I was," said Aerrow, half annoyed, half amused.

"So let me get this straight," said Edward. "You and your friends went all the way across the Atmos, all to retrieve some glorified dessert to save your friend's life from some big gangster boss - and having to cut through Cyclonian territory on the return trip - you went through all that trouble for FROZEN YOGURT and when you finally got back he didn't even want it anymore?!"

"That really wasn't a good day," Aerrow said in a resigned tone. "And the worst part is that we lost that awesome picture of the Dark Ace that I drew. Had to do another one from scratch!"

"_You_ drew that?" Edward asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Aerrow responded, "why?"

"No reason," said Edward in a suspiciously innocent tone.

Aerrow raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Anyway, your turn," he said.

"Okay, uh..." Edward paused, unsure what he could say. "Um... right, so this one time I was in East City 'coz Colonel Mustang had been complaining at me about all the paperwork I was causing for him, 'coz whenever I go out on a job I always end up causing a whole lot of collateral damage to roads and buildings and stuff-"

"Wow, what a surprise," Aerrow deadpanned.

"Hey, shut up," Edward whined. "Anyway, he was busy screaming in my face about this time I transmuted spikes out of the road and forgot to put them down when one of his subordinates charges in and says there's a robbery in progress at the bank on the Main Street-"

"So you went to take care of it."

Edward nodded.

"It didn't take me long to find the place since it was the only bank in the whole city which had a military police barricade surrounding it," he continued, "so I snuck in the back and started to get all the employees the hell outta there. It wasn't too hard, then I realised that there were probably still customers in the place and I had to get them out as well. And I thought there were only going to be about two or three robbers, but it turns out they were all over the building! I'm still not even sure how I got all the workers out safely! So anyway, the first thing I did was lock in the guys who were already in the vault."

"Huh? Wouldn't they have suffocated?"

"Hey, there were plenty of ventilation shafts in there, I'm not a monster! But as soon as I'm done with that, some great big guy comes right up behind me and tries to rip my automail off."

"Wow," muttered Aerrow in shock. "Wouldn't that hurt?"

"This stuff is fused to my muscles and nervous system," Edward explained, pointing at his left knee. "It hurt like hell. And this guy was huge! And he was shaking me around and slapping me against the wall and eventually I just had to transmute the floor to hold him there. And then of course all his buddies come running 'coz of all the noise and they all point their guns at me and then..."

"Then what?"

"Then one of them, probably not the smart guy of the group, said 'What's some stupid little kid like you doing back here?'."

Aerrow didn't need to hear what happened next before he doubled over in laughter.

"And let me guess," he gasped, wiping tears from his eyes, "you attacked them, right?"

"Attacked them? I beat the snot out of them!" Edward declared proudly, punctuating himself with a punch at the ground. "And you know, it serves them right because I don't. Like. Being. Called. Little!"

"Did they find out who you were?" asked Aerrow. "Did they know you were in the military? They didn't, did they?"

"Not until they saw me flashing my watch to the MPs as they were led out," said Edward, "and yeah, the looks on their faces were classic, but get this: Mustang was still pissed off at me because I'd just made even more paperwork for him and he made me stay at his office until after midnight to get it all done!"

"What? He didn't even care that you'd just stopped a robbery?"

"Nope! It's like he's brainwashed himself to believe my purpose in life is to cause him trouble! Not that I have a problem causing trouble for that jerk, but…"

Aerrow couldn't help but laugh.

"Sounds like you got it tough," he said, and lay back on the ashy ground. "Man, I can't imagine what that must be like."

"What what must be like?" asked Edward as he too lay down.

"Having loads of rules and regulations," Aerrow answered. "You know, having a boss and being told what to do. No offence or anything, but it sounds like it sucks."

"It's not _that_ bad," Edward said dismissively. "'Sides, if it wasn't for Mustang, I'd probably still be wallowing in self-pity at home."

"As opposed to wallowing in self-pity in Atmos?"

Edward shot him the sourest possible look, and then went back to gazing up at the starry sky.

"It's been a long time since that horrible night," he said, "but I'm sure I'm getting close. I'm going to get Al and I back to normal and we're going to get normal lives to go along with it. We're gonna do it. I can feel it."

His fist clenched in determination.

"You're really gonna try to pull that off, huh?" asked Aerrow.

"You bet your ass I am!" said Edward. "And yeah, I know alchemy requires equivalent exchange, but that's why I need the Philosopher's Stone, see. I'll give up some of the stone's power and then Al will have a body again. Me too, if it all goes according to plan."

"Yeah, you keep talking about equivalent exchange," Aerrow pointed out, "but that's not all there is to it, is there? How do those transmutation things actually work?"

Edward paused. Between them the fire crackled and spat sparks up into the smoky air.

"Well," said the alchemist eventually, and he held up a finger, "the first step is understanding: you have to know exactly what you're transmuting and what you want it to be. It can be pretty tricky, especially if it's clapping alchemy or you're in a fight or in my case it's often both, so there's quite a lot of trial and error involved. It took me about three tries to figure out what the roads in Central are made out of. With me so far?"

Aerrow nodded.

"I think so," he said.

"The next step is deconstruction," Edward continued, holding up a second finger. "You gotta harness energy from the movements of the world's tectonic plates to break down what you want to transmute so that you can progress to the third and final step," he held up a third finger, "reconstruction, which is where you shape the object or materials you're transmuting into what you want them to be. If you haven't been through the Gate of Truth like I have, you have to support your transmutations with structural matrices, but these can be pretty time consuming to draw, so lots of alchemists have them on gloves or tattoos on their hands. I heard of one woman who put hers in the soles of her boots so she could transmute just by putting her foot down."

Aerrow was silent.

"Hey wake up, you idiot!"

"I am awake!" Aerrow objected. "It's just... wow, here I thought all you needed to do was clap."

"Nah, it's _waaaay_ more complicated than that," said Edward. "Some people can study for years and years and still not get beyond the basics."

"So basically you have to be a genius?"

"Nah, just really goddamn bookish."

Silence reigned once more, save for the crackling of the fire.

"You make it sound like you have an awesome world waiting for you," Aerrow commented.

Edward remained quiet, deep in thought.

He climbed awkwardly to his feet.

"Sit up," he requested.

Aerrow obediently sat.

"What're you- _ah!_" He shouted in pain when Edward seized his broken arm and pulled in up between them.

He clapped.

With a disturbing _clunk_, his right hand fell uselessly to his side and hung there while Edward rested his other hand on Aerrow's arm, which crackled with blue lightning that didn't take long to fade.

"There," said the alchemist as he removed his hand. "I'm no doctor, but that should keep you going until you can find one."

As he sat down on the far side of the fire and removed his black jacket, Aerrow untied the splints from his arm and flexed it experimentally, and was amazed to find that it didn't hurt in the slightest.

"You fixed my arm?" he asked. "You used your last transmutation to fix my arm?"

"Uh huh," Edward said through a mouthful of cloth. He fashioned a sling out of the garment and used it to hang his now-broken arm from around his neck.

Aerrow was too shocked to even notice.

"You..." he muttered. "You didn't need to do that, Edward."

"Oh come on," said Edward, "why do you have to be so formal?"

Now the Sky Knight looked up.

"Just call me Ed," said the alchemist.

It took a moment for this to sink in. Aerrow could only look from his healed arm to the smiling blonde and back, before he remembered what the boy had said the first time they had officially met and he was smiling too.

It was now official.

Edward - no, Ed - was his friend.

"I'm gonna go get more firewood," said the alchemist, and he stood up, picked up his coat and slung it over his shoulder as he walked away into the trees.

Aerrow watched him leave, then lay down and marveled at his mended arm. It occurred to him that Ed would probably have to have studied anatomy when he was planning to bring back his mother, but it was still pretty amazing.

Even so, he really shouldn't have done that.

Idiot.

* * *

><p>It was only a few minutes before Ed returned, his coat still over his shoulder and a collection of short, thick branches under one arm. He had set them down by the fire and tossed a couple in when he noticed that Aerrow had curled up on his side and stopped moving.<p>

He'd fallen asleep already? Wow.

Ed pulled the coat from his shoulder and gently laid it over the redhead's prone figure, then lay back down on the far side of the fire.

"You wanna know something strange?" he asked the sleeping Sky Knight. "After I'd first joined up, after the Colonel had given me my issued name and he was walking me out to the car to take me back to Resembool, you know what he said to me?"

Silence.

"He said 'I knew you'd come back' and I said 'no you didn't, how the hell could you know I was gonna come back, you bastard?' And he just said..."

Still silence.

"...said 'I saw the fire in your eyes, and it looked like you wanted to let it burn'."

He rested his head on his hand.

"Man, you should've seen how Al reacted when I told him I got in," he murmured, and it wasn't long before he too had drifted off.

* * *

><p><strong>God, I never realized how time-consuming it was to type out Edward's whole name. I'm gonna stick with 'Ed' from now on. It's way easier.<strong>

**The look of the terra was inspired Arnold Böcklin's painting _Isle of the Dead_, which if you check it out some of you may recognise as the basis of the island in the second ending sequence of Black Butler. I just thought it was a really interesting design and would work awesomely as a terra, so I've been waiting for a while to do some interpretation of it.**

**I had to come up with my own story for Ed to tell Aerrow. I was considering having him tell the Liore story, with Father Cornello and Rose and that epic trick he did to expose the evil plot (though it's obvious Cornello was new to the whole diabolical villain thing because it was a bit of a lame plot) but in this story's timeline, none of that has happened yet. It's basically the Brotherhood timeline but without Isaac the Freezer, as really you could take him out and literally _nothing_ about the story would be changed. Made for a neat intro to the series though.**

**I think in the Brotherhood timeline, the whole Yoki and Youswell thing was something the happened before the main story, but Ed telling Aerrow about Liore would have made for a massive plothole. As for Storm Hawks timeline, this is basically what's happening instead of episode 14 onward of season 2, as I think the Operation Exodus thing was rather rushed and should have been spread out over the whole season if not the entirety of the show's run rather than being condensed to about 10 or 11 episodes.**

**But I had Aerrow recount the events of Thunder Run from the first season because that episode was hilarious and I will hear nothing against it.**

**Reviews are very welcome!**

**PS: I'll give you fair warning now that the next chapter is going to be monstrous. Probably the longest in the whole story. And it's also going to be the last before the epilogue.**


	13. Chapter 13

Aerrow awoke slowly, like he was rising out of a deep lake, but didn't realise why he had. The sun wasn't up yet, there weren't any animals in this place that could be making noise and he wasn't facing the fire which seemed to have gone out. Ed wasn't snoring, at least not very loudly. So why had he woken up?

In his state of half-sleep, he realised there was something on him, and when he felt it he found the familiar fabric of Ed's coat covering his body like a blanket. He smiled faintly and settled down to go back to sleep-

-just as something flew overhead and snapped him into full sobriety.

"Ed!" he whispered. "Ed, wake up!"

Nothing.

He crawled on his stomach over to where Ed lay. The blonde boy was lying on his back, mouth wide open and breathing heavily, with his left hand moving up his vest and exposing more of his stomach than was already showing due to his shortened vest. Aerrow would have laughed were he not on the edge of panic.

"Ed!" he repeated, and gently shook his shoulder. "Ed, quickly! Wake up!"

The two halves of Ed's snores collided with one another and he awoke, blinking the world into focus.

"Aerrow?" he said. "What, is it morning already-"

"Ssshh!"

Ed obediently shut his mouth and, along with Aerrow, looked around.

"Something's not right," Aerrow muttered. "There's something here. Something watching us."

The other boy rolled onto his front.

"Any idea what it is?" he asked, equally as quiet.

"I have a hunch," Aerrow replied, "and I hope I'm wrong because if I'm not, then we're in big trouble."

"Why?"

"Just _shush!_"

Ed got to his knees as slowly and carefully as he could, gently cradling his damaged arm. Aerrow handed him his coat and he slipped his good arm in and pulled it tighter, shivering slightly in the cold night air.

"Do you know what time it is?" he asked.

"I don't know," said Aerrow. "Early morning? It's hard to tell without the moon."

He squinted into the darkness, trying to make out anything unfamiliar, which was difficult since he hadn't been on this terra for quite long enough to exactly feel at home there. So he peered into the shadows...

...and almost had a heart attack when he noticed the shadows peering back.

"Ed," he said as quietly as possible. "Don't. Move. A muscle."

Ed obediently froze. The glowing purple eyes didn't move either, but something definitely did as the faint sounds of movement were just audible in the crushing silence. Aerrow slowly raised a hand behind Ed's back.

There was a 'click' and Aerrow shoved Ed's head down just in time for a bolt of crystal energy to fly in so close that it singed the tip of his hair antenna.

"RUN!" Aerrow screamed.

They scrambled to their feet, Aerrow snatching his energy blades off the ground in the process, and ran as fast as they could towards the trees.

"What's going on?!" Ed shouted.

"Don't ask, just run!" Aerrow yelled back.

They stopped just before they reached the ruins.

"We'll split up," said Aerrow. "You go that way and loop around; I'll meet you on the other side of the village!"

"Gotcha!" Ed said, and he started sprinting away.

Aerrow took a deep breath. He wasn't looking forward to this.

He ran forward, down the blackened cobbled road and past the gutted houses, and made it as far as the fountain before his head started to swim. He only barely managed to catch himself on the side of the stone structure before he fell to his knees-

-_running as fast as he could, trying to ignore the heavier footfalls and shouts that followed in his wake_-

-and the scratching of a heavy body landing right behind him snapped him back to his senses and he kept running, trying not to let the dizziness get to him again. He felt more bolts of energy sizzling their way past his body and prayed that none would hit him. He ducked around trees and weaved his way out of the village, trying to shake off his pursuer. He needed somewhere to hide and he needed it now.

He didn't know why, but he found himself hurriedly examining the roots of the nearest trees, and found that one of them - a tall, dead, blackened thing that looked more like a jagged spike than anything else - had a hole underneath. He slipped in and found a little cave, just large enough for a pair of average-sized teenagers to be comfortably hidden.

And he didn't know why, but his feelings of déjà vu were even stronger here than they were in the village.

He shook his head.

"Aerrow!" said a hoarse whisper outside. "Hey, where are you?"

The redhead pulled himself up to look out the hole.

"Ed!" he whispered back. "Down here!"

He didn't want to make any more noise than necessary and risk attracting their attackers, but thankfully Ed was just as alert as he was, and quickly joined him under the tree.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Aerrow. "What about you?"

"Confused as hell," Ed said bluntly. "Who was that? What the hell were those things?"

"They're Nightcrawlers," Aerrow told him. "Elite Cyclonian troops that only answer to the Master herself. You should remember one of them got onto the Condor a couple of days ago. They're the best of the best and if we can't figure something out soon, they'll be the last things we'll ever see."

"Oh _great_," said Ed sarcastically. "I guess I should've listened to you after all. Do you know if these guys have any weaknesses?"

"Light usually weakens their armour," said Aerrow, "but if they're upgraded, like the last ones my squad and I had to fight off-"

"We're screwed?"

"That. They're gonna find us eventually and no fire we make could be bright enough."

Ed carefully peered out the hole.

"What about sunlight?" he asked.

Aerrow shuffled up next to him and looked out, and felt his hope grow when he saw that the sky was lighter than it had been the last time he saw it.

"I don't know," he confessed.

"What do you mean, you don't know? You've fought these things before, haven't you? How could you not know?"

"They've taken a full blast from a Solaris crystal before and those basically shoot out concentrated sunlight, so I have no idea if the pure stuff will work or not!" Aerrow snapped, his patience beginning to wear.

"Okay, okay!" Ed held up his hand defensively. "So do you have any ideas on what we're gonna do? We can't just sit like idiots and wait for your friends to come and find us!"

"Can you let me think?" asked Aerrow. "I'm trying to figure this out!"

"Alright, jeez!" Ed rested his chin in his hand. "Next you're gonna tell me they've got heat vision or telekinesis or something, right?"

"No," said Aerrow, "but they can sense large amounts of crystal energy."

He froze, staring at Ed, realising just exactly what he had said.

Ed pulled the red stone out of his pocket. They looked at it, and then at each other, each knowing the other was thinking the same thing.

"...shit..." Ed swore.

As if on cue, a shadow blocked out the faint light from the entrance and the two found themselves examined by a pair of glowing purple eyes, and they scrambled back with twin yelps of terror to avoid a clawed arm as it reached in and tried to snatch at them.

"Dammit, get off me!" cried Ed as he was pressed stomach-first into the back wall of the cave.

"Give me a moment!" Aerrow replied as he switched on his knives.

Ed looked back, trying in vain to see what was going on.

"What're you gonna do?" he asked.

"Something crazy," said Aerrow.

The Nightcrawler grinned as it opened its crossbow and prepared to fire, but before it had an opportunity it was blown out by a massive blast of electric blue energy that also erased a considerable amount of earth from the entrance to the cave.

Aerrow sheathed his weapons.

"Come on!" He grabbed Ed's wrist and pulled him out of the hole, and together they ran back to the village and didn't stop until they had taken shelter in the remains of what could once have been a church, under a frazzled stone altar. Once there, and in spite of the massively cramped conditions, they tried to catch their breath.

"What was that?" asked Ed. "Tha-that thing with all the blue and-"

"It's called the Lightning Claw," said Aerrow. "My signature move. Not entirely sure how it works."

"Just be glad it does," said Ed. "So what're we gonna do now? Just keep ducking between hiding places and hoping we aren't found before the sun comes up?"

"Do you have any better ideas?" Aerrow asked.

Before Ed could reply, they heard a scratching noise emanating from the empty doorframe they had entered through, and they fell silent and leant back into the space under the altar, hoping against hope that they could stay hidden.

A thought suddenly occurred to Aerrow and he tapped Ed on the shoulder.

"Do you still have the stone?" he mouthed.

Ed checked his pocket and nodded.

The faint footsteps steadily grew louder, until something landed on the altar with a soft thump.

"Oh god," Ed breathed in silent horror, "it's right above us!"

Aerrow was about to respond but his vision blurred and-

-_and he crouched lower, hugging his knees and hoping those nasty boys wouldn't think to look for him here_-

-and seeing that he was in trouble, Ed snatched out one of the twin knives and whacked away the miniature crossbow that had been pointed right in his face.

"Aerrow, snap out of it!" he commanded, but the Sky Knight was too dizzy to respond.

He stepped out from under the altar and faced the dark creature.

"So you're a Nightcrawler, huh?" he said. "And I'm betting you're after what I've got in my pocket."

He quickly found the function that allowed the blade to glow with blue energy, hoping his unfamiliarity with this weapon wouldn't be too apparent.

"Well, I'm sorry," he said, "but I'm not gonna give it up for anything!"

The Nightcrawler fired at him and he only barely managed to deflect the bolt, but once he realised exactly how that worked, it became easier as he swiped the shots away again and again, before growling in rage and lunging at the hooded man. He whacked it, again and again and again, before it realised that he didn't have a real plan of attack and kicked him in the stomach.

Ed stumbled back and almost didn't deflect the next shot in time. He saw a small button on the blade's hilt and pressed it, and almost fell over when a blast of blue flew out of the end like a bullet. So he pointed it at the Nightcrawler and pressed it again, hitting it square in the face, but despite having to take a step back, it rested its glowing purple eyes on his terrified form and grinned.

"That happened," Ed said weakly.

He couldn't think of anything to do except keep shooting, but the Nightcrawler quickly caught onto this and started ducking to avoid his shots. It fired at him again, almost hitting his shoulder, and then they both shot at the same time. The bolts collided in an explosion of energy and the alchemist was thrown to the ground by the force, and the weapon fell from his grip-

-only to be kicked into the air, caught, turned on and brandished along with its twin by a fully recovered and definitely angry young Sky Knight.

"Bring it," he snarled.

He slammed the two energy blades together at the ends of the hilt and used this newly-formed weapon to beat off the Nightcrawler's charge, and finished the fight with a blast of blinding light which blew the creature right through the wall. It didn't get up again.

Aerrow pulled a very relieved Ed to his feet.

"Thanks," said the alchemist. "I thought I was a goner. What the hell happened to you back there?"

"I wish I knew," said Aerrow. "Ever since I've arrived here, I've been getting these... I don't know what to call them. Flashes, I guess. They're like memories from somebody else's life. Don't you get them?"

Ed shook his head.

"What does this mean?" Aerrow asked as he rubbed his forehead. "I've never even been here before!"

"Are you sure about that?" Ed said.

Aerrow looked around at the gutted church, and at the sky which was steadily getting brighter.

"I don't know," he said, "but I don't think we have long to wait until the sun rises. If my squad doesn't get here by then, I don't know how much longer we can last. You still have the stone, right?"

Ed checked his pocket and closed his fingers around the small red crystal.

"I already said," he said, "I'm not giving this thing up for anything."

"You might have to," said Aerrow, "because I've just had an idea. Give me the stone."

"Huh?" Ed stepped back, suddenly wary. "You're joking, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not," said Aerrow, and he held out his hand. "I promise I won't lose it. I'll keep it safe, I swear - I have a plan to give the Nightcrawlers the slip and it starts with you giving me the stone. Please?"

With an expression of resignation, Ed withdrew the stone from his pocket and pressed it into the redhead's palm. Aerrow closed his hand tightly.

"There's some sort of graveyard near one of the houses off the main square," he said. "Meet me there in a few minutes, but try to draw as much attention as possible in that time. You got that?"

Ed nodded. "I think so."

"Good luck," said Aerrow.

He hopped up onto the altar and propelled himself out through the glassless window, landed softly as a cat on the ashy ground and started running again. The smooth roundness of the Philosopher's Stone felt strangely reassuring under his fingers, and he hoped he wouldn't grip it so tightly that he'd crush it. He'd sworn to help Ed and this was his only hope of seeing his family again.

He was in the trees again now and it wasn't long before he heard the crunching of scorched branches under the weight of a darkness-shrouded Cyclonian elite. Without breaking stride he drew one of his knives and fired at it, but it dived from tree to tree and avoided every single one of his shots.

Then it leapt for him, crashed into his body and slammed him face-down into the ground.

"Hand over the stone!" it growled.

"No," said Aerrow, straining to speak.

"Give it to me!"

"Never!" His hand was trapped under his chest, so how could he?

He pressed with his other hand on the ground, struggling to get free despite the Nightcrawler's weight crushing his body. If only he were an alchemist like Ed, he thought. Then surely this stone's power would let him transmute a fist out of the ground to punch it off-

-and then suddenly the weight was gone. He looked to the side just in time to see Ed stamp on the creature's head and knock it out.

"Watch yourself!" he commanded before he ran out of sight.

"Thank you!" Aerrow shouted, and he got up and kept running.

He curved around the edge of the village, wondering just how many Nightcrawlers Cyclonis had set on their tail - enough to be thorough, that was for sure - and eventually saw the graveyard up ahead, reaching it just as Ed came into view. He quickly passed the stone to him.

"Keep running," he said, "and this time, meet me at that dead tree we were hiding under. Sunrise isn't too far off, we have to hold out!"

"Understood," said Ed, and they set off once again.

The alchemists' inner monologue was so dirty and so disturbing by this point that, suffice it to say, it was not exactly safe for human ears to hear. He would have muttered curses under his breath were he not trying to conserve oxygen for running rather than talking. On the inside he swore against the Nightcrawlers, dead trees, Master Cyclonis, the terra she ruled, dead trees, the terra he was now stuck on, cracking twigs, loose ashy ground and dead trees, amongst other things.

If only his arm were still functioning, he could solve this problem in a heartbeat!

He heard something behind him and twisted to look, meaning he didn't see the patch of dried out bush that sat right in his path. He struggled through it, the twigs scratching against his face and hand, and one of them snagged on the end of his braid and pulled it loose. By the time he emerged on the other side his hair had unravelled completely and was hanging around his shoulders full of broken little bits of wood, but he wasn't about to go in there just to get a bit of string back. He could worry about this later.

So he kept running. He kept running despite the rising complaints in his legs and chest and painful stitch in his side, which he tried desperately to ignore. If he didn't make it to sunrise he would lose all hope of ever returning home. He wouldn't ever see Alphonse again. Or Winry, or Granny, or the Colonel- no, there wasn't any need to care about him. He didn't give a rat's ass about Mustang. As far as Ed was concerned, being separated forever from the Flame Alchemist was a blessing.

He saw the dead tree up ahead and dived down into the now very open hole, thankful that his friend was already there.

"I don't know... how much longer... I can keep this up," he panted. "Surely... it's almost sunrise... right?"

"I think so," said Aerrow. "What took you so long? I was beginning to think you'd got caught!"

"I ran into a bush," Ed said. "Had a bit of trouble getting through. Where are we gonna go now?"

"Back to my ride," said Aerrow. "I'm gonna try radioing the Condor one more time."

"What? Out in the open? You're nuts!"

"Maybe, but I can't stand being out of contact anymore. I know it might not work but I have to try! You still have the stone, right?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Then follow me!"

He jumped out of the hollow and pulled Ed out with him, and together the two boys ran like the wind through the dead trees and past the destroyed houses, kicking up ash all over the place and breaking any number of stray twigs. They heard howls of alarm and warning as the Nightcrawlers alerted one another to their appearance, but they didn't stop until they reached the wreck. Aerrow power-slid the final few feet to his skimmer and Ed started tracing in the ash.

"Mayday! Mayday! Storm Hawks, come in!" he all but shouted into the radio. "We're under attack by Nightcrawlers and we need help! Now! Mayday!"

He waited for a reply and while he still received static, it was clear somebody was trying to get through.

"Storm Hawks, do you read?" he asked.

"I don't think it's working!" Ed said. When Aerrow looked, he saw that the blonde had drawn a circle design on the ground with his finger.

"What're you doing?" he asked him.

"I'm sick of running around here unarmed," Ed replied, "so I'm doing what I should've done in the first place: making myself a weapon!"

He placed his hand in the centre of the circle and pulled out a stem of stone, which it quickly became clear was a knife. It was surprisingly sharp for a glorified rock and even had a skull adorning the hilt.

"This would be so much easier if I had both arms functioning," he said as Aerrow got up. "I could just do my arm blade thing and hope Winry doesn't notice the next time I go back for maintenance. Then again, if she did, I'd be saying a head-first hello to Mr Wrench."

"She hits you with her wrench?" Aerrow asked, drawing his knives.

"Hits me?" Ed scoffed. "She throws it from the outside railing - it's a miracle I don't have brain damage."

"If the sun doesn't come up soon," Aerrow said grimly, "you're gonna have far worse than that."

A Nightcrawler appeared on the edge of a tree line, calmly walking towards them. Another dropped down out of a tree to join it. And then another.

And another.

Then four more.

And at least seven more after that.

"Shit, there's so many," Ed muttered.

He and Aerrow started to back away but it wasn't long before they reached the edge. And the dark creatures were still advancing.

"Hand over the stone," one of them hissed, "and we may be kind enough to kill you painlessly."

"Kiss my ass!" Ed retorted, tightening his grip on the knife and preparing to charge at them.

Aerrow, on the other hand, had his eye on the sky.

"Ed," he said, "when I give the word, drop to the ground and cover your eyes. Don't look up for anything, don't ask why, just do it."

"What, so they can rip our necks out?" Ed asked.

"Don't ask why!" Aerrow snapped. "Three..."

They were getting closer.

"Two..."

"Please tell me something's gonna happen," said Ed.

"One..."

"I just want you to know that I'm really placing my trust in you right-"

"NOW!"

The two boys dropped to the ground with their arms over their faces just as the sun crested the clouds and...

_**HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK**_

...a blaring horn cut through the dawn air as the Condor soared over the cliffs, emanating beams of light brighter than the rays of the sun. Even with their upgraded armour, the Nightcrawlers had no protection from the double-whammy of blindingly bright light that bathed the entire terra, and were forced to flee lest they be burned away for good.

After a few seconds it faded, and the Sky Knight and alchemist looked up at their saviours.

"Coolest. Rescue. _Ever_," Ed decided.

They got to their feet and dusted off the ash as a skimmer and a heliscooter landed not far away, and Radarr scampered over and leapt into Aerrow's arms.

"Hey, buddy!" Aerrow said happily. "You miss me?"

Radarr hugged his head while Aerrow stroked him affectionately.

"Are you guys okay?" asked Piper as she approached. "We had to follow the Nightcrawlers to find you."

"We've been trying to reach you guys literally all night!" Finn complained. "What the hell happened? You said you'd be back by sundown!"

"The Dark Ace happened," said Aerrow. "He practically cut my ride in half. We're lucky this terra was here or else we'd be done for."

"Did you manage to get everything you need to make the Philosopher's Stone?" Piper questioned.

"Better," said Ed. He pulled the red stone out of his pocket and tossed it to her.

"It turns out Cyclonis wanted one too," Aerrow explained as she and Finn looked it over, "and all she didn't have was the alchemical knowhow. We managed to get out okay, but she sent the Talons after us and we crash landed here. The Nightcrawlers arrived not long before dawn, but luckily we managed to hold out until you guys got here."

"Big damn heroes," Ed muttered. "That's what you are."

"Wow," Piper said breathlessly. "This is beautiful! I don't think I've ever seen a crystal so smooth in all my life!"

"Whoa," Finn said as he took the stone to look at for himself. "Yeah, I can see why Cyclonis would want one of these, I can _feel_ the power radiating off this thing. But why is it so small?"

"Are you saying that just 'coz something's small it can't be powerful?" Ed asked indignantly.

"No, don't be stupid!" Finn said, and tossed it back.

"Can we get back to the Condor?" asked Aerrow. "Both of us are ready to drop dead."

"And I need to try to fix my arm or else my mechanic's gonna rip out my spine and repurpose it as a back-scratcher," Ed said in a strangely nonchalant tone.

"...sure," said Piper.

"And it looks like you're gonna have to use your spare skimmer from now on, dude," Finn said, sounding very self-satisfied.

"What? But all the spares smell weird!" Aerrow whined.

"You're the one who trashed it!" Finn pointed out cheerfully.

"Let's just move," said Piper. "I'll be glad when this is all over."

Ed looked down at the knife he had transmuted, shrugged and tossed it off the edge of the terra.

"Yeah," he said. "This place is cool and all, but I'm more than ready to get home."

Aerrow smiled as they walked over to the waiting vehicles.

But then something occurred to him.

"Wait a minute," he muttered.

He watched Ed, boarding the heliscooter behind Piper and struggling to hold on with only one hand.

Couldn't...

* * *

><p>Ed lifted his arm onto the bed and dropped it with an unhealthy thump, wincing at the noise and cursing himself for not being more careful. He was going to get hell the next time he went back for maintenance, not to mention a new bruise on his head where Winry's wrench was guaranteed to hit it.<p>

He carefully removed the plating and exposed the inner workings in all their wiry glory, and pulled out the bolts and their knuts from where they had fallen down into his wrist and thankfully not fallen out during the fight. Then he took hold of the displaced rod that formed the 'bone' and, struggling with his fleshy fingers, started to lift it back into position.

It slipped into place with a satisfying thunk and he sighed with relief. No more wrench-whacks in the near future after all, it seemed!

There was a knock at the door.

"Yeah, what is it?" Ed called.

The door opened.

"Hey," said Finn.

Ed was confused. Didn't this guy hate him or something?

"...Hi," he said.

This was awkward.

"So, uh..." Finn slowly walked into the room. "Aerrow told us. About what happened on that terra. And how you helped him when he was hurt, so..."

"So?" Ed raised a questioning eyebrow.

"So I want you to know," Finn said in a rather rehearsed sounding voice, "no hard feelings. And, uh, thanks. I guess."

He held out a hand to shake, but quickly switched to the other one when he remembered which one needed fixing.

Ed smiled.

"Sure," he said.

They shook hands.

"So who was it that told you to come and say that to me, huh?" asked the alchemist.

"What're you talking about?" said Finn. "I came and said it myself!"

Ed gave him his best 'you're kidding, right?' look, and the marksman sighed with exasperation.

"It was Piper," he admitted. "She thinks it would be bad for us to part on bad terms or something."

"Girls, huh?" Ed said knowledgeably. "Trust me; I know where you're coming from. If my mechanic sees what I've done to her work, she'll kill me."

"Heh, I'll bet," said Finn.

They stood/sat in awkward silence.

"Is that all?" asked Ed.

"Uh, yeah," said Finn as he started to back away, "so if it's okay with you and we don't have anything else to talk about, I'm just gonna..."

He pointed towards the door and then bolted.

Ed didn't know if he should smile or be weirded out. Either way, he still had an arm to fix.

He slotted the bolts into the appropriate holes and slowly screwed the knuts on, taking great care not to accidentally knock anything out of place. This was a lot fiddlier than Winry made it look. He made a mental note to tip her or something the next time they met.

Once the knuts and bolts had been tightened, he gave his arm an experimental flex. It felt pretty much okay. He slotted the plating back into place just as the door opened again, this time revealing a more welcome face.

"Everything okay?" asked Aerrow. "You'd better not get oil on my bed."

Smiling, Ed clapped and rested his hand on the automail, and before the Sky Knight's eyes it took on a much cleaner, well-kept appearance with no dents or scratches whatsoever.

"Be honest," the alchemist said, presenting his handiwork, "you can't even tell it was ever damaged, can you?"

"Not really," said Aerrow as he entered. "I, however, have a bright red bruise on my left arm that's bigger than my face."

Ed sniggered as he pulled back his hair, using a strip of it to tie it back in a loose ponytail.

"That's what happens when you dislocate a limb," he stated. "Don't worry; it'll be gone soon enough."

Aerrow didn't smile.

"Speaking of disappearing things," he said, "I realised something just as I was coming back on board."

"Oh yeah?" Ed said casually as he tested his arm with a few quick punches. "What's that?"

"That you had every opportunity to leave and yet you didn't."

This was enough to make Ed almost freeze.

"You've got the stone," Aerrow pointed out. "I'm guessing you know the circles you gotta use and there was plenty of stuff there to help you draw them, and if you really had only one transmutation left, why didn't you just use it to go home? Why did you decide to stick around and help me instead?"

The blonde didn't answer. He reached back and pulled on his black jacket, pocketing the clasp rather than putting it on.

"I've said it enough times," he said as he stood up. "You still haven't caught on?"

"Caught onto what?"

"Equivalent exchange!"

Aerrow couldn't help but feel a little lost.

"It's simple," Ed said with a friendly smile. "You've gone out of your way to get me back to my family. Don't you think it's only natural that I get you back to yours?"

When realisation finally dawned on him, Aerrow couldn't help but smile.

"You're a big fat liar, you know that?" he said.

"What's that all about?" Ed asked indignantly. "I mean yeah, I lie _sometimes_ to save my own skin and I'm not gonna deny that, but-"

"You were so angry when we met," said the smug Sky Knight. "And you act all tough and arrogant. But really you're even softer than Junko, aren't you? 'Coz I don't see any other way you'd say something as cheesy as that."

"Maybe I am," said Ed as he stretched his arm and made for the door, "and maybe I'm not. Either way, I don't want to keep Alphonse waiting for any longer than he has to. You wanna come watch the show?"

He left without waiting for a reply, and Aerrow soon followed, after picking up the red coat that had been left draped over his bed.

* * *

><p>When he entered the bridge, Ed stood to one side apparently being thoroughly harangued by Stork while Junko scrutinised his automail. The poor boy looked rather uncomfortable, but it didn't look as if he would be getting away in a hurry.<p>

"Stork says he's not letting him leave until he's told him _everything _about those robot parts of his," Finn informed the Sky Knight as the Merb produced a notepad and a pencil. "I'm just wondering how the dude can even lift those things; they look like they weigh a tonne!"

"He was strong enough to lift my skimmer off my arm," Aerrow pointed out, holding up his right arm. "Where's Piper?"

"She went to get him a fresh bit of chalk," said Finn. "In case what he's got already isn't enough."

"Oh, that makes sense," Aerrow said. "Can I just ask you something?"

"Sure, what?"

"What _is_ your deal with Ed? Why does he piss you off so much?"

Finn looked away with a slight blush.

"Do you have to know?" he asked. "It's not like it's important or anything."

Aerrow had to lean forward to see his face properly.

"Oh man, don't tell me," he said, unable to avoid smiling. "You're jealous, aren't you?"

"Dude, shut up!"

"Wow, you are! You're jealous of Ed! What is it, his hair? His eyes? I mean, it's pretty weird for somebody to have proper _gold_ eyes, but-"

"It's not that!" Finn insisted. "Why would I be jealous about that?!"

He glanced over at Ed, who seemed a little more comfortable in explaining how his limbs worked while Stork frantically scribbled down note after note.

"Then what are you jealous of?" asked Aerrow. "'Coz you're not exactly denying that you're jealous."

"You really wanna know?" asked Finn. "I'm jealous because you've got your Lightning Claw and energy blades and mad fighting skills, Piper's super smart and awesome with crystals, Junko's got his knuckle-busters and his super strength, Stork knows this ship inside and out and is a total nerd about gadgets and inventing, Radarr's really small and can get to places and he's your co-pilot and stuff and I'm…"

He looked down, adamant on not making eye contact with Aerrow.

"All I really have is my eyes," he said. "I'm a good shot, I can clean things pretty good, I'm rad on guitar and… that's _it_."

He looked up at Ed, whose leg was now being studied by Junko and who glanced down occasionally as his toes were wiggled against his will.

"So how do you think I felt when someone like that came on board?" he asked. "Somebody who could probably beat _you_ in a fight? A super-aggressive dwarf who's probably one of the closest things to an actual god that'll ever exist?"

Aerrow wasn't entirely sure what he could say. He hadn't expected his wingman to ever say anything like this. _Ever_.

"And if you tell anyone I said this, I'll deny it," said Finn. "The Finnster isn't usually down with mushy stuff like this."

"Did you think I was trying to replace you?" asked Aerrow. "Did you think I picked up Ed because I didn't think you were good enough?"

Finn still didn't look at him.

"…maybe," he muttered.

"Finn, you idiot," Aerrow said, and put an arm around his friend's shoulders. "We've been buddies since before we were five years old. Why would I just suddenly replace you with somebody I barely even know? Come on. Look at me, will you?"

Still nervous, Finn turned to face him.

"You don't have anything to be jealous of," Aerrow told him. "I promise. Besides, he'll be gone soon enough, and you'll never even have to think about him again."

"Heh, that's a relief," Finn said with a smile. "The last thing we need is _two_ guys capable of beating down the Dark Ace."

"Yeah," Aerrow said with a faint laugh, but then his gaze drifted to one side.

"What's up?" asked Finn.

"The Dark Ace said something," explained Aerrow. "Back when I was fighting him in Cyclonia. He said 'you're just like him'. Seemed to think I'd know who he was talking about, and he was really confused when I didn't. Any ideas?"

Finn shrugged.

"How would I know?" he asked.

The door hissed open and Piper entered.

"Good news!" she said cheerfully. "I found a whole box of unused… oh."

She giggled at the sight of Junko and Stork hounding Ed.

"Can you please let me go now?" the alchemist pleaded.

"One more thing!" Stork said excitedly.

"I've told you literally everything I know about automail!" Ed insisted. "If you wanna know more, go speak to Winry!"

"But Winry isn't in Atmos," Junko said sadly.

"Then I guess you're gonna have to stay in the dark," Ed said as he broke away from the pair and approached Piper. "Thanks for this. I really appreciate it."

"I always make sure to have plenty on hand," Piper told him as he took the box, "because there's almost always _someone _who needs the plans I come up with simplified so they can understand them."

She glared at Aerrow and Finn, who simultaneously shrugged, to which she made an exasperated face and rolled her eyes.

"Is this part okay?" he asked, standing on the insignia painting on the centre of the bridge.

"Yeah, you can use that," said Piper. "Stork, I know what you're thinking, and _don't_."

While Stork froze in heading for his trap lever and deflated, disappointed, Ed pulled out a stick of chalk and started sketching out a line running around the edge of the circle. Once that was done, he drew at least five others within it, each getting smaller as they moved inward with the three most central being very tightly packed. He drew two squares in a star shape in the second smallest, and a pentagon in the third-largest with smaller nodes at its corners in a similar fashion the Philosopher's Stone circle.

As the Storm Hawks came over to watch, he drew five teardrop-like shapes around the second largest circle and wrote strange words along some of the lines, then tossed the worn-down nub of chalk aside.

"Alright," he said. "That's done."

"Hey, where's Radarr?" asked Aerrow, looking around. "I would've thought he'd want to watch this."

"Probably fell asleep in the boiler hatch again," said Stork, "and if he did he's going to be the one cleaning out his shed fur."

Ed straightened up and wiped the chalk dust on his fingers on his jacket.

"I kinda feel like I should say something," he said. "I can't just leave, can I?"

"Well, you _can_," Finn pointed out.

"You'd better not forget this," Aerrow said, holding out the red coat. "Don't wanna leave it behind, do you?"

Ed reached for it, but paused. He spent several seconds just staring at the garment, as if he expected it to suddenly jump into his outstretched fingers.

But then he withdrew his hand.

"Keep it," he said.

"Huh?"

"You heard. I can easily just make another when I get home. You're gonna need something to remember me by, right?"

"You talk like you're somebody who's easy to forget," said Piper.

Ed smiled nervously and scratched the back of his neck, almost dislodging his hair.

"Seriously though," he said. "I… I honestly don't know what I'm supposed to say. I literally had no idea what I was supposed to do, how I was ever going to get home or even how I was supposed to find my way around before I ran into you guys. And you've never even asked for anything in return when there is so, _so_ much that I owe you."

He pulled the Philosopher's Stone out of his pocket and eyed it with a smile.

"We're gonna miss you, Edward," Junko said fondly.

"Probably," Finn added.

"Maybe," said Stork.

"_Thank you_," said Ed, half grateful and half sarcastic. "One thing's definitely for sure: I'll have one hell of a story to tell people when I get home. I'm sure Colonel Mustang in particular will be more than happy to hear about the people who made the Fullmetal Alchemist sleep in a storage closet."

He glanced down at the circle he'd drawn and took a deep breath.

"Here goes nothing!" he said.

Gripping the Stone between two fingers, he pressed his hands together, then crouched down and laid them on the ground in the centre of the circle. The lines began to glow electric blue, illuminating Ed's faint smile as the crystal in his fingers throbbed and lit up.

It didn't take long for the light to fade from vivid blue to purple, and under his feet a large eye opened up – one that was huge and black and five different shades of empty grey.

The Storm Hawks watched, entranced, as Ed's body started to disintegrate from the bottom upwards, flaking apart and vanishing into the eye, reaching up his arms and legs and getting closer and closer to his face-

Something in the walls went _clang._

Everyone except Ed, who was far too deep in concentration, looked up in shock.

Radarr's screeches echoed out, combined with the yowls of a very shocked cat, and Junko grinned nervously when everybody else fixed him with a suspicious glare.

A vent cover in the wall exploded off and a terrified feline came flying out, with Radarr jumping down and brushing himself off as the frightened cat landed on Aerrow's face and he screamed in shock.

"Get it off me!" he shouted. "GET IT OFF!"

"Buffy, stop it!" cried Junko, and he wrenched the furry creature from his leader's face, causing Aerrow to stumble backwards.

Right.

Onto the edge.

Of the circle.

He didn't even realise at first, and Ed definitely didn't as he was practically gone already. He only noticed where he had ended up when a sudden sting hit him in his left hand, and when he looked down, he saw a long, thin, tendril-like appendage hooked onto his wrist.

His own body was breaking apart as he watched, horrified, too shocked to move.

As if in slow motion he raised his other hand, reaching for the rest of his team, silently begging them to pull him out before it was too late. Piper and Finn grabbed his hand and wrist and started dragging him forward.

And then suddenly, everything changed.

Aerrow stood in emptiness, a vast world of absolute nothing, with an unearthly whistling noise echoing in his ears. He sensed something big behind him and when he looked, it was a tremendous set of doors, intricately engraved with symbols and words that flowed outward from a gigantic version of his squad's insignia.

He was alone too.

"Hello?" He shouted while looking from side to side, despite guessing that nobody would hear him if he tried. "Can anyone hear me? Is anyone there? Anyone?"

"_**Hello.**_"

Instinct screamed at him to not turn around. He could survive without looking. He could probably survive because he didn't look. But something caused him to turn his head and see...

...nothing.

It was nothing. An empty white void of nothing surrounded by shadows.

And it was shaped like him.

Aerrow couldn't avoid staring at this hollow version of himself.

"What..." he muttered, too confused and shocked to think of anything else to say. "Wha... who are you?"

"_**Ah, I'm so glad you asked!**_" the void said, throwing up what were apparently its arms. "_**I am Truth. I am God. I am the World. I am the Universe. I am All. I am One. And I am also...**_"

It pointed at Aerrow.

"_**...you.**_"

"Huh?" was all the stunned Sky Knight could manage.

Before he even had a second to comprehend this strange declaration, the whistling in his ears was interrupted by an echoing boom, and a rush of air as he realised the gigantic doors behind him were opening.

Though he still dreaded what he would see, he looked.

Beyond the doorway was more emptiness, but this time it was black, and as he watched an eye opened, tremendous and grey and staring with its bottomless pupil right into his very soul.

"_**You have dared to knock on the door of Truth,**_" said the eerie voice of the thing behind him as tendril-like black hands started reaching out from around the eye, "_**and now the way is opened for you.**_"

Memories of Ed's story flashed into Aerrow's mind as he looked into the black blankness; the implications hit him and his mind almost shut down from shock.

"No," he whispered, unable to speak any louder. "No, this-this is wrong, I'm not-"

"_**There's no need to act so surprised,**_" said Truth nonchalantly. "_**After all...**_"

When Aerrow looked again, the void was smiling in a wide, terrifying toothy grin.

"_**...isn't this what you were curious about?**_" it asked.

Aerrow started running frantically, panicking, desperate to get away from the doorway. This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be happening. This could _not_ be happening.

"Stop this!" he shouted over the approaching rustling noise behind him. "You have to stop! I'm not-"

The small hands latched onto his body and pulled him back. He struggled uselessly against their unnatural strength.

"I'm not an alchemist!" he cried. "This is a mistake! I'M NOT AN ALCHEMIST!"

"_**Nevertheless, the door has opened,**_" said Truth. "_**And now all the knowledge in the universe is waiting for you.**_"

The Sky Knight was no longer able to struggle as he lost his footing and was pulled, screaming, into the doorway. He latched onto the door in a last attempt to pull himself out, but the black hands were stronger and they continued to drag him back - it wasn't long before he lost his grip and fell behind the doors as they closed.

Then he was falling, still screaming, into the black emptiness, towards a piercing white light somewhere below. There was nothing else and he knew that, but he could have sworn that images were racing past him on all sides, fragments of his life and memories and some that were completely unfamiliar, memories of lives that were not his own - green pastures and complex circles and cities with cobbled floors and tall stone buildings under an empty sky - and everything was pouring into his head faster than he could comprehend it.

"It's too much!" he shouted. "Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!"

No matter how he struggled or yelled, it didn't end. Now more and more unfamiliar information was entering his mind in a deluge, and it felt like any second it could overload his brain and cause it to explode from the strain. And no matter what he did, he couldn't close his eyes or tear them away from the light. He couldn't even blink.

There was something up ahead. Something in the light that looked like a person. He reached for them, wondering if they could help, if they could put an end to this mental torture, and they stretched out a ghostly hand towards him in return.

"Please," he gasped, "help..."

Beyond the emptiness a final image pushed itself to the forefront of his mind; an image of a land that was not Atmos, composed of a single solid landmass and a sky of a deeper shade of blue, with such light thin clouds that they could break at any moment, and he could have sworn that a figure of black and gold plunged past him as he fell, and then he realised _why_...

And in an instant, he was back in front of the closed doors, still reaching towards nothing.

"W-wait!" he cried, and turned back to the doors. "Let me see it again! I wanna see it again."

"_**I'm afraid I can't do that,**_" said Truth.

"I understand now," Aerrow continued regardless. "There's something else in there, it's… this is more than just knowledge, it- this could be _huge!_ Please, you have to let me back in. Just one more time. One more look."

"_**But I can't let you do that,**_" said Truth. "_**Not with the toll you've paid.**_"

"...toll?" Aerrow said quietly.

"_**Your friend explained the notion of Equivalent Exchange to you, did he not?**_" Truth said. "_**So I would expect you to understand that I wouldn't have allowed you into the Gate if I didn't want something in return.**_"

_"...and it told me that I couldn't go through again with the payment I'd given, and before I could do anything about it, my left leg was just gone..."_

Edward's words rang in Aerrow's mind as he watch a hand materialise over Truth's and work it's way along until it had an entire arm, flesh and thin and bony, but with a nasty looking bruise stretching down to the elbow from about where the shoulder would be, except for some reason the shoulder had been left out.

"_**Ah, yes,**_" said Truth, "_**I think this will do nicely.**_"

...and before Aerrow even had time to register these words, it was over.

* * *

><p>Colonel Roy Mustang was more than ready to give up.<p>

It had been over a week since the Fullmetal Alchemist had disappeared and since then there had been no trace of him, not even a single tiny lead. It was as if the kid had been wiped from the face of the earth and worse still, they were no closer to catching the man he had been sent to investigate. Without him, there were no suspects. Nothing.

Nonetheless, he pulled the door from its frame, the lock and hinges long since busted from the previous raid.

He didn't want to be here. It was like entering a morgue. But Alphonse didn't want to give up. He didn't want to believe that his brother was gone. So he had insisted that the Flame Alchemist take one last look around the place where Edward Elric had last been sighted.

He raised his arm to his face to protect him from dust as he entered the rotten cottage.

The air was musty and felt like it was clinging to his uniform as he entered the since-abandoned house. Already there were cobwebs dangling from the exposed beams overhead and a patch of bird scat on the floor in the corner where the roof had fallen in. Scraps of paper were strewn everywhere, including on a desk set against the wall.

Mustang picked one up. It was covered in writing in some strange script he didn't recognise. Was it Xingese? It looked vaguely Xingese, but there was no way of telling. Aerugan? Drachman? If it was alchemic script, it was a branch he wasn't familiar with.

And from the way the writing was structured, he would almost have thought it was a letter.

What was that?

He placed the paper down and knelt on the floor, brushing away some dust for a clearer look.

There was a transmutation circle painted beneath his feet, only a shade or two darker than the floor's colour. Had he not been on the lookout for vital evidence, Mustang could have missed it completely. Brushing away more dust revealed it to take up a majority of the floor space, which explained why the house was so empty, but what was it for? It wasn't like any structural matrix he'd ever seen before.

He turned back to the desk. Maybe there was some information in these notes.

Wait, was the ground humming?

When he looked back again, he saw the transmutation circle on the floor beginning to glow all by itself.

"What the...?" he muttered in disbelief.

He stepped away as the glow grew ever brighter and dust was blown every which way. Lightning crackled in the very centre and something started to materialise in its midst, and Mustang took a defensive stance and prepared to burn it down if it was hostile.

But as it grew more solid, its form became somewhat...

..._familiar_...

"Fullmetal?" he muttered.

The transmutation ended with a final blinding flash of light, and when the Colonel lowered his arms he saw the blonde boy standing there, in the centre of the circle, his clothes and body singed and his eyes wide open.

They slid closed as he fell to his knees and slumped forward to the ground.

"Fullmetal!" cried Mustang, and he jumped down next to the boy and shook him roughly. "Hey! Wake up, Fullmetal! Open your eyes, you godforsaken idiot!"

Ed didn't wake up.

"Dammit!" Mustang swore. "Snap out of it, pipsqueak!"

Still there was nothing. Was he dead?

Just when the Colonel was about to give up for good, the boy let out a quiet groan.

"Don't... call me... _pipsqueak_."

Mustang smiled. He didn't dare show it, but he could have fainted from relief.

"Sorry, Edward," he said. "It's good to have you back."

* * *

><p><strong>I started on this fic in January of this year and now, almost eight months later, all that's left to put up is the epilogue. I honestly would not be able to believe it were I not typing these words with my very own fingers. I think maybe it's because unlike other fics where I write a majority of it and post a new chapter periodically, I've been posting these chapters as I write them, so it seemed to take a lot longer.<strong>

**The events of this chapter have been planned out since I conceived this story, and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I was originally going to have Aerrow's trip through the Gate resembling or at least having shades similar to rape, but I think that would have been a step too far so I decided against it. I think he's already been through enough without that.**

**Storm Hawks fans would probably be able to tell who the 'him' the Dark Ace spoke of was. And it may just come into play at some point in the future...**

**Reviews are very much appreciated.**


	14. Epilogue

*_rrrrring... rrrrring..._*

Colonel Mustang picked up the phone.

"Hello?" he said.

"Colonel Mustang?" the receptionist said. "You have a call pending on line 1."

"Oh, right," said Mustang, who already had a pretty good idea who it was. "Thank you. Put them through."

He waited for the lines to connect.

"Hey, Roy-ma-boy, how're things out in the East?"

'How did I guess?' thought the alchemist.

"The same as always, Hughes," he reported nonetheless. "The sun still rises, the grass still grows, and people still call me on military lines when they most likely still have work to do."

His subordinates smiled to themselves. These calls always led to entertainment, usually at the Colonel's expense.

"What are you talking about?" Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes casually asked. "I almost always call you when I'm working!"

"Cut to the chase, Hughes," said Mustang. "Is this about your daughter again? Because if it is-"

"Actually, it's about something a little different this time."

Mustang was, despite himself, genuinely surprised. These calls were almost always about Elicia Hughes' latest adorable exploits.

"I'm calling to check up on a certain disappearing teenager," said Hughes, now more serious than he had been before. "It's been about two days since he came back, after all. How is he doing?"

The Flame Alchemist sighed. He'd hoped to not have to think about this anymore.

"Although somewhat delusional, and aside from slight exhaustion and a few first-degree burns, the Fullmetal Alchemist was and still is in peak physical condition," he explained. "Don't ask me why or how, because I know just as much about this whole affair as you do. In any case, since there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him, I've sent him to investigate some strange goings-on in Liore, north of here."

"Wow," Hughes responded. "Has anyone ever told you that for somebody called the Flame Alchemist, you can be pretty damn cold sometimes?"

"It's not like I'm asking him to save the world or something," Mustang objected. "It's just a basic investigation, and anyway, we've had reports of disturbances and bizarre events in that town for months now. Besides, he's perfectly healthy, so I didn't see any point in confining him any longer than was necessary. If Liore's anything like I've heard, it should be a walk in the park."

"But is he still insisting that he was transported to another world?"

Mustang paused.

"And more importantly," Hughes continued, "do you think we should believe him?"

The Colonel pinched his brow. He'd hoped he wouldn't have to deal with this anymore.

"Honestly, I don't know what to believe," he confessed. "Major Elric was missing for over a week and he reappeared - he literally rematerialized - right in front of me. With his condition, it was pretty clear he hadn't just been stuck in some empty void for all that time, but I'm not sure whether he could have been in a sort of stasis or if he really was somehow transported to another world. Personally, I'm just glad he's alright. I wasn't looking forward to attending a funeral."

"Then you might be interested to hear that the lab boys finished analysing that stone he came back with."

"And?"

"And," said Hughes, "whatever it is, it's not of Amestrian origin. Not in the slightest."

Mustang wasn't sure what to think.

Surely it couldn't be true. A parallel dimension filled with motor-powered bicycles that could fly and magical crystals? The concept was preposterous!

But then again, he would have had to have gone _somewhere_...

"So what?" he said. "You think he's telling the truth?"

"How am I supposed to know?" asked Hughes. "You're the guy who found him, aren't you? And he's just a kid, they tend to get themselves into trouble every now and again. You just gotta learn to go with it. Speaking of which..."

'Oh no, here we go,' the Colonel thought.

"My sweet little daughter Elicia brought a kitten home the other day!" Hughes declared joyfully. "She said it followed her and it was too adorable to leave all by itself! We had to give it up but I managed to get a picture of her cuddling it and it's the cutest thing I've ever seen in my entire life! She's going to be such a darling when she gets older, I just know it!"

Mustang sighed. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

><p>"...and then the next thing I knew, Colonel Jackass was shouting at me to wake up."<p>

"You shouldn't call him that, Brother. He only acts that way because he's concerned for you."

"Oh yeah?" Edward asked as he transmuted the bolt of red cloth he had just bought into a new coat. "Well, if he cares so much, how come he's shoving me off his doorstep already?"

"Um..."

"And if he was really worrying like you say he was, how come he didn't believe me when I tried to tell him where I'd gone and what had happened to me?"

"To be honest, Brother, I don't think he cared."

"Ha!" Ed cried triumphantly as he donned the coat. "So you admit-"

"And to tell the truth, I don't care either."

"Huh?" Ed was shocked. "Al, what're you talking about? Didn't you miss me?"

"Of course I did!" shouted Alphonse, who would probably have been crying if he had eyes to do so. "I was so worried! I was afraid- I was terrified at the thought that I was never going to see you again!"

"Alphonse..." muttered Ed.

"What I mean," said Alphonse, clenching his leather fists, "is that I don't care what happened to you wherever you were, and I don't care who it was that kept you safe. I'm just glad they did. Brother..."

The suit of armour reached forward and pulled the shorter alchemist into a tight embrace.

"Brother," he repeated, "I'm so glad you're okay!"

Ed returned the hug as best he could.

"Me too, Al," he said. "I know I'm trying not to show it, but I really am glad to be back. You'd never believe how much I missed you."

Somewhere in the city, a bell began to toll the hour.

"Shit!" Ed swore as his brother set him down. "It's eleven already?!"

"The train leaves for Liore in five minutes!" shouted the equally alarmed Alphonse. "Come on, we have to hurry!"

"What's going on in that place, anyway?" yelled the frustrated Ed as they started running.

"I don't know!" Alphonse replied. "Something about a miracle priest with his own religion!"

"Oh, really?" Ed was close to laughing. "In that case, I bet somebody there is gonna believe me!"

* * *

><p>Aerrow didn't want to wake up.<p>

He could tell he was lying down, a sheet covering a majority of his body, but he didn't want to be feeling that. He didn't want this.

He didn't want the throbbing pain in his left shoulder. Because he knew what it was, why he felt it. He knew what was missing.

Maybe he could ignore it if he tried. Maybe it would go away, and maybe he could sleep in peace...

"_**Isn't this what you were curious about?**_"

He almost choked as he reawakened, blinking cold sweat out of his eyes, and he had never been so relieved to see his ceiling in his whole life. He wasn't before the Gate of Truth and he wasn't inside it. He was in his own room on the Condor.

His gaze wandered to the side and he saw, hanging in the corner, the bright red coat that had once belonged to one of the most powerful, feisty and yet compassionate people he had ever met, and he smiled.

But then he remembered.

He sat up, struggling a little from pain and exhaustion, and looked down at the blank, empty, blood-stained bandage covered space where there should have been a left arm. It didn't hurt any more when he touched it, just kept the same constant dull ache.

If anything, that was worse. Like a reminder that there was nothing he could do.

And yet he swore he could still feel his fingers, like maybe if he tried he could still clench his fist, like his body hadn't quite realised there wasn't a fist to clench anymore...

His breath caught in his throat as he forced his right hand away from the empty stump and lay back down as his head started to hurt.

It was too much.

Why should such a stupid accident lead to such an outcome? It wasn't like he'd wanted to get caught up in the transmutation. If it wasn't for that cat... and hadn't he stressed it enough? That Truth thing, hadn't it heard him? He didn't have any reason to enter the Gate in the first place. He wasn't actively taking part in transmutation, human or otherwise. He wasn't even an alchemist!

He _wasn't_.

Right?

Even if he was, there was no way he'd be able to do Ed's clapping alchemy now. Or anything else, for that matter. No more fighting, no more flying, no more Lightning Claw; he'd be lucky if he could ever set foot outside the Condor again.

How could this have happened?

He could still feel his breath trapping itself in his throat, heat rising to his face and-

No.

No, he was a Sky Knight and one of the most respected people in Atmos. He wasn't going to cry. He wasn't going to let himself break down, not now! Not like this!

He wasn't.

He _couldn't_...

...he...

..._dammit_...

* * *

><p>"Two days," Piper sighed. "Hard to believe it's been this long already."<p>

"Yes, indeed," Stork said from his position at the helm. "Feels like only yesterday that not only did a despicable little pest disappear from our lives, but our Sky Knight and leader nearly lost his life right in front of our eyes. Shall I get the champagne?"

"Please don't talk like that," said Junko. "I still can't get those images out of my head."

"So much blood..." Finn muttered. He didn't seem to have slept since that fateful day and his eyes were practically bulging out of his skull.

Curled up on the table as he had been for almost two days, Radarr's ears suddenly pricked. He looked at the door that led off the bridge, then sprang up and scampered away. Nobody else really noticed, or if they did they didn't show it.

"Come on, guys," said Piper, "We need to stay focused. We can't let Aerrow's injury get us down-"

"Injury?!" Stork suddenly seemed enraged as he looked back at his squad mates. "You think that was just an injury? Piper, this isn't like a paper cut or a skinned knee. Aerrow lost his Entire. ARM. And he'll be extremely fortunate if he doesn't contract gangrene!"

"Please stop," Junko said weakly.

"Do you think I didn't notice that, Stork?" asked Piper, anger increasing. "Did you think I didn't see? Perhaps if it was you who had to cauterise the wound and listen to him screaming in agony, you'd think differently! Or would you actually like to try it for yourself?!"

"Just SHUT UP!" Junko shouted as he leapt to his feet. "Why are you shouting and arguing?! Just stop it! We don't NEED this!"

Piper and Stork fell silent. Poor Junko looked as if he were about to start crying, which wouldn't be surprising considering the circumstances.

"You're right," said the resigned Piper. "I'm sorry. But I... sorry."

"Me too," said Stork, and he turned back to the helm. "I must admit that the notion of doom, destruction and death is an enticing one in theory, but in practice..."

He trailed off. He didn't need to finish.

"That stupid girly-haired runt."

All eyes fell upon Finn.

"It's all his fault this happened," he said. "Can't believe I actually started to trust him. If he'd just stuck to his own business, none of this would have happened."

He looked up.

"Kept going on about equal trade, didn't he?" he said. "But you all saw what happened. You know that was an accident. And he still lost his arm, right? Well I'm sorry, but that doesn't seem very equal to me."

For a moment it seemed as though he had something else to add, but the door hissed open before he could continue and a familiar voice spoke up:

"It should."

They looked up.

Their leader was standing in the doorway leaning heavily against the frame, clutching a red coat around his shoulders that probably wouldn't have fitted if he had both arms to hold it there. He fell to his knees with a grimace of pain.

"Aerrow!" they cried, and all ran to his side.

"Are you okay?" asked Piper. "You've been out for two days, you must be... have you been crying?"

Radarr, who was perched on Aerrow's shoulder, shot her a rather sour look before turning to the wounded Sky Knight with an expression of concern.

"Trust me, Finn," said Aerrow, struggling to stay upright. "If it had been you... if you'd seen what I did, you'd... you'd be glad it was just your arm. And I'm... I'm just amazed that I'm still alive..."

He winced, tightly gripping the stump where his arm had been, and was summarily pulled over to the nearest couch. He only barely managed to keep his grip on the coat.

"Ed wasn't kidding," he said. "That place... I felt like my head was gonna explode..."

"Don't you worry about a thing," said Finn, clenching a fist. "The next time I see that obnoxious little assbutt, I'll whack him so hard in the face his _grandkids_ will lose their teeth!"

"No, don't blame him," said Aerrow. "Just 'coz he was the one doing the transmutation, that doesn't mean it was his fault-"

"You're right," said a dejected Junko. "It's all my fault, I'm so sorry! I know I was supposed to get rid of all of them, but I just figured- just if I only kept one, nobody would notice and I could keep it to myself and-"

"Junko, it's okay," Aerrow said calmly. "I don't blame you. If anything, it's my fault for standing too close. So don't beat yourself up about it, okay?"

Junko didn't look any happier, but he did manage a small smile.

"I guess I'll be the one to say it," said Piper. "What're we gonna do now? Would you still be able to fight with only one arm?"

"While it is possible, I definitely wouldn't recommend it," said Stork. "For one, his risk of losing his grip on his handlebars and plunging to a fiery doom in the Wastelands has doubled, and there's also the fact that he'll be exponentially weakened if he's only able to hold onto one of his knives, so-"

"So I've been thinking," Aerrow interjected. "And to answer your question, Piper, yes. Yeah, I was crying. 'Coz it was kind of a shock to wake up and find my whole arm gone, you know? But when I got a chance to calm down, I started thinking and, well..."

He looked up.

"Stork, how many notes did you take on Ed's arm and leg?" he asked.

Silence fell once again.

Then it began to sink in.

"Are you _seriously_ implying what I think you are?" Piper asked, obviously alarmed. "Don't you remember what he said a-about surgery and-"

"-And the possibilities of infection-" said Stork.

"-three year recovery period!" Junko cried.

"And you don't even know if it'll work!" Finn pointed out. "Where would we even get the right stuff?"

"Scraps?" Aerrow suggested. "Strip and melt down some machinery we don't use anymore? It shouldn't be too hard to find some wires, right?"

With perhaps the flattest expression ever, Radarr twirled a finger next to his head while making whistling noises.

"I'm not crazy!" Aerrow objected. "Guys, I know what I'm talking about and I know... I know it's pretty big. But the last thing I want is to let myself become an invalid. If that half-pint can recover in only one year, then so can I."

He smiled, and for that moment, his brilliant green eyes once again sparkled with undying determination.

He was going to recover. And he knew it.

* * *

><p>Fuery fiddled with the radio's tuning knob, and as he did so, music began to resonate through the office.<p>

"Sorry," he said. "Must've hit a commercial station."

"Well, can you turn it off?" asked Breda. "I can't stand this song!"

"No, leave it on!" Havoc protested. "This is one of my favourites!"

"Only because it reminds you of one of your ex-girlfriends," Falman pointed out. "Which one is it, Sandra? Lynn? Jessica? Vera?"

"Colonel," said Hawkeye in the hopes of resolving the matter with her superior's input, "what do you think?"

With a final frustrated grunt, Mustang placed the receiver down.

"Leave it on," he said. "God knows I could use a little sweet music right now. But tune it out once this one's done."

Havoc punched the air in triumph while Breda and Falman groaned in annoyance.

Mustang sat back and gazed out the window.

_We'll meet again_

_Don't know where, don't know when_

_But I know we'll meet again some sunny day_

Some distance away, in one of many carriages being pulled across a railway bridge, the Fullmetal Alchemist sat next to his younger brother, leaning against the wall with his forehead touching the window and staring out at the scenery beyond.

_Keep smiling through_

_Just like you always do_

_Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away_

In another world, too far away to measure, the leader of the Storm Hawks sat on the bridge, clutching a deep red coat around his shoulders, leaning against the window with his forehead touching the cold glass and smiling faintly as he watched the clouds pass by.

_So will you please say hello_

_To the folks that I know_

_Tell them I won't be long_

_They'll be happy to know that as you saw me go_

_I was singing this song_

Although neither could know, they were both thinking of the experiences they had shared, of when two great heroes had touched the sky. They had risked their lives for one another despite barely knowing each other, and through this a friendship had been forged that spanned across the universe and beyond.

They had fought together. It had been undeniably awesome.

And they knew, however unlikely it may be, that it was bound to happen again sometime in the future.

_We'll meet again_

_Don't know where, don't know when_

_But I know we'll meet again some sunny day._

* * *

><p><strong>Obvious sequel hook is obvious, I know.<strong>

**I'm seriously having trouble believing just how long it took me to get this story finished. Maybe school had something to do with it, maybe it was writer's block, maybe it was discovering shows and things I've never seen before like Attack on Titan and Sailor Moon and Slugterra or maybe it was because I got swept up in nostalgia with things like Dragon Booster. Either way, you don't have any idea how relieved I am to have finally gotten this all finished.**

**Thank you for sticking this out with me. You wouldn't believe how grateful I am to all the people who took time to read this thing.**

**As always, reviews are most, most welcome.**

**PS: You know what I said about Ed and Stork being fun to write? Hughes trumps them. Hughes is the most enjoyable of them all. Hughes is fantastic and every single person in the world should love him, and hopefully every single person in the world eventually will.**


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